This season of "Hard Knocks" on HBO has been both a) a welcome and pleasant surprise and b) a platform for Jameis Winston to really showcase his leadership abilities. Think or say whatever you want about Winston and his past, but NFL Films and HBO have helped to humanize the former No. 1 overall pick.
Winston isn't out there just helping out his own teammates, though. As we learned in Week 4's episode of "Hard Knocks" (season finale coming up next Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on HBO), Winston is also helping out other young quarterbacks around the league.
In this case it was DeShone Kizer of the Browns, who won the starting QB job in Cleveland over Brock Osweiler. Winston sought out the rookie after the Buccaneers squared off against the Browns in the preseason.
And Winston, who has been known as an aggressive player early in his career, had some surprising advice for Kizer: he preached "patience."
"Patience is the easiest way. Take my word, because I'm a risk taker. Have patience," Winston said. "Who you got -- you got coach [Hue] Jackson, listen to him, let him guide you. But patience is the easiest way. Even though you got that cannon. Listen to me, because they ain't gonna tell you that. You got that [arm], you're spoiled, you're blessed. Do your thing."
Like Kizer, Winston is a physically gifted athlete with an incredibly strong arm. As I've noted before, I watched Kizer throw footballs into literal hurricane winds. He is a strong, strong man. Winston played baseball and was really good at it. He has a cannon.
But the lesson here from Winston is that you can't win with just your arm in the NFL. Athleticism can take you a long way, but ultimately you have to be able make smart decisions on the field. Plus, there's no way Kizer is supposed to win now. His job is just to get better this season and show the Browns he is capable of becoming a franchise quarterback. Patience, young grasshopper. Patience.
