Count Bill Cowher among those who believe Jameis Winston would represent a phenomenal addition to the Steelers.
Speaking with Boomer Esiason on CBS Radio, Cowher was asked about Winston to the Steelers, and he made his stance clear from the jump.
"I think he'd be a great fit, only from the standpoint that I kind of sense where Pittsburgh is going with this football team," Cowher was saying. "It's been a [team] whose identity has been on the offensive side of the ball, with the Killer B's, with [Ben Roethlisberger and Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown]. Now, I think what you saw [was] a little bit of a transformation last year with getting back to the way it used to be with a very defensive-minded football team."
No argument there.
The Steelers ranked 30th out of 32 teams in total offense with 276.8 yards per game, ranking even worse — 31st — in the passing game with just 186.3 yards per contest. The run game was only slightly better with 90.4 yards per game, putting them at 29th. Split it any way you'd like, the Steelers were one of the NFL's bottom-four offenses last year.
Yet, they finished 8-8, and that's almost entirely because, as Cowher notes, the defense came back to life. The team generated a league-best 54 sacks and produced 38 total turnovers — 20 interceptions and 18 fumbles — also good for tops in the NFL. Led by Defensive Player of the Year candidate T.J. Watt and fellow first-team All-Pros in Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cam Heyward, the Steelers returned to that fearsome, swarmy, aggressive defensive style of years past.
But even that wasn't enough for the Steelers to make it into the playoffs, as they were left on the outside looking in as the No. 7 seed, yielding to the Titans down the stretch.
To Cowher, Winston could help with this — but not immediately. And that might be a problem.
"Do I think Jameis Winston is a fit? If he's willing. If he's willing, Boom, to accept that one-year behind Ben," Cowher began. "And maybe Ben has two years. I just think that'd be the biggest obstacle to overcome, is for Jameis to sit there and not think he has a chance to compete for a job and to take a minimal salary, because that's basically what it's going to have to take to come to Pittsburgh that's going to be contingent on him playing."
And all that means...
"So I just don't know if that fit will happen right now, just because of the timing of it, but, you know, it'll be interesting to see where Jameis lands," Cowher concluded. "He's a guy, he's 'feast or famine,' he has questionable judgments he makes at times or throws that he makes, but a whole new city and a chance to kind of just reinvent himself would be a good thing for him. It's gotta be in the right place."
HUNTER'S VIEW
Winston, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, has thrown for 19,737 yards, 121 touchdowns and 88 interceptions during his five-year stint with the Buccaneers. Last season, Winston led the league with 5,109 passing yards and came in second to eventual league MVP Lamar Jackson with 33 touchdowns, but he also posted a league-high 30 interceptions throughout a 7-9, playoff-less season. Second place went to Baker Mayfield, who threw 21 picks in a disastrous year of his own, but that nine-interception gap is tough to ignore.
As Cowher indicates, though, Winston does have talent. You see it in spurts, and there's a chance his best is yet to come. He just received LASIK eye surgery in February and got married earlier this month in a private, lockdown wedding.
Is he better than Mason Rudolph? Yes.
Can the Steelers afford him? No. Winston's earned over $45 million as a pro, and it's unlikely he'd take the kinda deal with the Steelers he'd need to fit within their tight-as-always salary cap.
Plus, does Winston want to sit behind Roethlisberger? He's been the man from Day 1 in Tampa Bay, and it's not like he hasn't put up some solid tape to warrant a starting opportunity elsewhere. He'll want to play and to play immediately. Putting him in a less-than-ideal situation, as would be the case with the Steelers, would likely only strain both sides of the relationship. I can't see that going well.
Of course, he's some amazing insurance in the event that Roethlisberger isn't fully healed from his elbow surgery or that Father Time catches him sooner than expected, but that's a long shot to bank on one or both scenarios coming to fruition.
For me, it's a pass. I get it ... but I don't get it more.
