Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston is both the No. 1 player on my board and arguably the biggest-name prospect in the 2015 NFL draft.
If you base his evaluation purely off of the tape, I think he's the clear choice for the No. 1 overall pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and one of the best quarterback prospects to enter the league in the past 10 years. He's a notch below Andrew Luck in terms of the passing skills that translate to the pros -- reading coverages, winning from the pocket, throwing with anticipation and accuracy, etc. -- and grades out similarly to Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger when they were coming out. Luck belongs in his own tier, but even though Winston's style of play is different from that of Ryan and Roethlisberger, he belongs on that same level before taking into account his behavioral baggage.
I feel he has a clear advantage over No. 2 QB prospect Marcus Mariota when comparing their on-field performances. If he doesn't get selected No. 1, I think it will have much more to do with his off-field issues. Tampa Bay or any team that considers him has to be comfortable with his maturity level and what it knows of his past behavior before it commits to making him the face of its franchise.
Ahead of his pro day on Tuesday, I've broken out my write-ups of the QB-specific traits in Winston's scouting report to show what his greatest strengths and weaknesses are as a player. I've also included a bottom line section at the end. You can check out his full report in our DraftTracker.
Note: Each category is graded on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being exceptional, 2 above average, 3 average, 4 below average and 5 marginal.
Mental makeup grade: 2