Suspended Winston Not Featured On Buccaneers' Murals At Stadium

Winston is not currently featured in any of the Bucs' marketing promotions for the '18 season Photo: GETTY IMAGES Winston is not currently featured in any of the Bucs' marketing promotions for the '18 season Photo: GETTY IMAGES Winston is not currently featured in any of the Bucs' marketing promotions for the '18 season Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston has been the face of the franchise since the team drafted him in '15, but his portrait "will not be on any of the player murals being displayed on corners of Raymond James Stadium" this season, according to Rick Stroud of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. The team has "decided not to include their beleaguered quarterback among any of their marketing promotions," after Winston was suspended for the first three games of the season by the NFL. Winston "will not be among" the stadium murals "for the first time since his rookie year" in '15. Once he is "back on the active roster, it's possible the Bucs could begin using his likeness in promotional material" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 7/24). In Tampa, Tom Jones writes Winston's "bad decisions away from the field should have been enough for the Bucs to cut ties with this trouble-maker," but that is "not going to a happen." The Bucs are "going with the plan to, apparently, bury their head in the sand, enable his past bad deeds, ignore the whole thing while the murmurs die down." The team will "move along as if nothing has happened" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 7/24).

FACE OF THE FRANCHISE? ESPN Radio's John Ireland said Winston is "down to his last strike." Not being included in the Bucs' marketing promotions is a "clear indicator" that he is "no longer in their eyes the face of the franchise." ESPN Radio's Steve Mason said, "I wouldn't put a mural up of Jameis Winston. They just invested a lot of money in (WR) Mike Evans. To me, that's the guy I put up a mural of." Mason added he is "not sure" Winston "is now or ever will be the face" of the franchise ("First Take," ESPN, 7/24).