Did Jameis Winston’s Draft Stock Fall in Rose Bowl?

With the conclusion of the 2014 NFL season, the St. Louis Rams will be drafting tenth overall come late April. The Rams have their fair share of needs going into the draft, one of them being the quarterback position.

However, sitting at number ten, it is unlikely that the Rams would be in position to draft a quarterback like Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston, and it would be far too much of a reach to go after Brett Hundley.

In our latest Mock Draft, we had the Rams taking Bryce Petty in the third round. However, after Florida State’s 59-20 loss to Oregon, number ten might not be too far fetched to grab a quarterback after all.

Despite his off the field concerns, analysts were still willing to put Winston in the top ten and even the top five. It wasn’t a guarantee that he would go that high. but being the best quarterback prospect, it would be tough for a team like Tennessee, Tampa Bay, or the New York Jets to pass on the Florida State prospect.

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However, after the Rose Bowl, that might have changed. Winston was clearly outperformed by the other top quarterback, Mariota.

Winston was 29-for-45 for 348 yards and one touchdown. Those aren’t bad numbers, but the difference came in the form of two turnovers for the FSU quarterback leading to 13 Oregon points. Winston also had an abysmal negative 15 yards rushing.

Marcus Mariota on the other hand, dominated. The Oregon quarterback had 400 total yards and three total touchdowns,

All season long,  Winston led second-half and late-game comebacks for the Seminoles, and kept their perfect record intact. With the late-game heroics came the constant argument that FSU is not as good as their record portrayed, and that seemed to be the case on Thursday night. The ‘Noles never really grasping hold of the game, were shaky in the red zone, and played catch-up from the start. Florida St. was clearly nothing like last year’s national champion.

After a performance like Wednesday night, there is no doubt that the 2014 year and season has delivered a hit to the former Heisman’s draft stock. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing as with the Rams sitting at number ten, there is now a better chance that he would fall to number ten and the Rams would be able to draft their possible franchise quarterback.

Whether Winston goes in the top-five is still a question that is tough to answer. It is obvious that both FSU and the ACC were not the same from last year, and Winston’s draft stock has taken a hit.

The Rams can only hope that the star-college quarterback’s stock has been hurt enough to give them a chance to draft him with the tenth overall pick.