Written by Robert Klemko at MMQB.com
I spoke with Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter on Wednesday, well before the Orlando shooting made talking and writing about football feel trivial, regarding the progress of Jameis Winston and the process of the second-year quarterback taking full ownership of the offense in the months and years to come.
Last fall, Winston had the benefit of matriculating from a Florida State pro-style offense that many in league circles believe to be at least as complicated as some in the NFL. Still, Koetter, at the time the offensive coordinator, slowly brought along Winston, limiting him to half-field reads and beginner-level pre-snap duties early last season. Like millions of high school and college kids across the country, Winston is graduating this summer.
Koetter says those pre-snap duties weren’t as limited as people think during Tampa’s 6-10 season. Though Koetter worked to keep protection calls off Winston’s mind by using more max protection scenarios than most teams, the rookie did have play packages at his disposal. (For example, Winston had the option to call either a certain run play or a certain pass play based on the defense’s alignment and apparent coverage.) In 2016 Winston will be asked to do more. Where there were two-play packages that Winston could call at the line in 2015, there will now be three-play packages plus a blitz audible.
Plus: More no-huddle is planned for 2016, one of Koetter’s signatures when he took the Tampa coordinator job in 2015.
“Jameis is a good communicator at the line, good at the no-huddle, studies like a wild man, and that’s what we love about him,” Koetter says. “I trust my judgment, and I trust the judgment of our coaches. We’re around Jameis every day, and we know what he’s capable of.”
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