If only Jameis Winston hadn't played with a too-realistic looking pellet gun on FSU's campus.
Or been accused of raping a woman at his off-campus apartment.
Or taken soda from behind the counter at a Burger King without paying.
Or stolen $32.72 worth of crab legs from a Tallahassee supermarket.
Or jumped up on a table on campus and screamed a sexually-charged expletive.
If only he hadn't done all these things, Winston would, based on his sheer athletic ability and command of a "traditional" pigskin offense, probably be the unquestioned first-overall selection in next April's NFL draft, ahead even, of Oregon's Heisman-winning quarterback, Marcus Mariota.
"If you're making the decision based off of what you watch on tape and the football aspect of it, Jameis Winston's the better prospect," ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay said during a conference call with reporters this week, per Tim McManus of PhillyMag.com. "He's the best quarterback prospect in this draft class. He's better from inside the pocket than Marcus Mariota, which is really where the foundation of an evaluation should be. Can you win from inside the pocket?
"We've gone through how many years of people getting excited about these mobile quarterbacks that can run around and do all this stuff, and if you can't win from inside the pocket with your anticipation, with your pre-snap reads, your post-snap reads, throwing to spots and having excellent ball placement, we haven't seen anyone overcome that."
McShay said that he's not down on Mariota, simply high on Winston - who he sees on film making difficult, accurate anticipation throws under pressure - and having a difficult time projecting the Oregon signal-caller because of the unorthodox, fast-paced spread attack he helmed in college.
McShay's not the only draft prognosticator to feel this way.
NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell voiced a very similar opinion about Winston recently while talking to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio.
"The skill set is clearly there. He's got potentially high-level traits and attributes to play NFL quarterback," Cosell said of the FSU product.
Ultimately, McShay allowed that, while he prefers Winston at the moment, there is plenty of time between now and the draft and a significant enough number of red flags attached to each quarterback that his evaluation could still change drastically.
"There's just enough red flags with both of these guys," McShay said. "Very different red flags, but there's enough of them that it's gonna make for a very difficult evaluation process."
