Jameis Winston

ESPN's Ryan Clark believes Jameis Winston will be next QB to make Super Bowl Debut

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:58 p.m. ET

Fansided, Kyle Symes/Fansided

ESPN’s Ryan Clark believes Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston will be the next QB to play their first Super Bowl.

Heading into Super Bowl 51, one of the storylines that we’ll inevitably focus on is the disparity in playoff experience between the quarterbacks of the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.

Tom Brady will be appearing in his seventh Super Bowl while Atlanta’s Matt Ryan will be making his Super Bowl debut. Appearing on Mike & Mike earlier this morning, ESPN’s Ryan Clark was asked which QB he believes will be next to make their first Super Bowl appearance. The ESPN analyst perhaps surprised a number of NFL fans by picking Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB, Jameis Winston.

Winston improved in some categories in 2016 such as throwing more touchdowns and having a higher completion percentage, while regressing in others such as deep-ball completions and interceptions. He’s thrown for over 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, those numbers figure to go up with Dirk Koetter at the helm and the addition of more weapons on offense.

While Tampa Bay is often an afterthought when it comes to the NFL postseason, there have been signs of improvement in recent years. Mike Evans has blossomed into one of the top young wideouts in the league, Cameron Brate has provided a quality second option in the passing game. The team does have some question marks at running back with Doug Martin’s future murky and will be looking to add a No. 2 wide receiver in the offseason.

On defense Vernon Hargreaves has the potential to become a playmaker on defense and the team still features defensive stalwarts such as Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy.

A year after going 6-10 , the team rebounded to a surprising 9-7 run in 2016. With playmakers on both sides of the ball and an improving Winston under center, perhaps it’s not that unfathomable to imagine Winston playing under the bright lights of the Super Bowl sooner rather than later.