Jameis Winston

Jefferson County native Jameis Winston (1994- ) has played professional football for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New Orleans Saints, the Cleveland Browns, and the New York Giants. At the collegiate level, he starred for the Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles and led them to victory against the Auburn Tigers in the 2014 BCS National Championship game. His success, however, has been tarnished somewhat by his mistakes on the gridiron and his behavior off the field.

Jameis Lanaed Winston was born on January 6, 1994, in Bessemer, Jefferson County, to Antonor and Loretta Winston; he was one of six siblings. Both of his parents were athletes as students. Antonor was a talented football and basketball player, and Loretta was a runner. Winston grew up in poverty, with seven family members sleeping together in one small bedroom. After an impressive showing in youth sports, where a former coach noted that he was instrumental in guiding the team to an undefeated football season, he attended Hueytown High School in Jefferson County, where he was an honor student and excelled in both football and baseball. Winston guided Hueytown High School to win the Alabama state high school football championship in 2011. In 2011, Winston was named the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year, a Parade All-American, and a Sports Illustrated All-American. Winston was considered the top high school quarterback prospect in the nation in 2012. Although the Texas Rangers drafted Winston in the 15th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, he declined to sign. Instead, he chose to play football and baseball at FSU after graduating high school in 2012.

Winston was redshirted for his first year of college, meaning that, to extend his eligible years as a college athlete, he practiced with the team but did not play in the 2012 season. In 2013, his first year as FSU quarterback, he led the team to an undefeated, 13-0 regular season and to the National Championship on January 6, 2014. Number one FSU defeated number two Auburn 34-31 as Winston completed a touchdown pass with 13 seconds left in the game capping a dramatic comeback by FSU. He was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player (MVP). For his performance in the 2013 season, he earned the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year, the Associated Press College Football Player of the Year, the Davey O’Brien Award, the Manning Award, All-American, and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. Most notably, on December 14, 2013, Winston became the youngest athlete, and the second freshman athlete, to win the Heisman Trophy. Winston led FSU to another undefeated season in 2014, although he was suspended for one game for shouting vulgar comments while on campus. FSU then lost the Rose Bowl to Oregon, Winston’s only loss as a collegiate quarterback. That year, he was named ACC Athlete of the Year.

Winston’s college years, however, were marked by several criminal accusations. Most notably, in December 2012, FSU student Erica Kinsman accused Winston of raping her. Winston, however, claimed that the sex was consensual. Prosecutors did not believe they had sufficient evidence to convict Winston and did not take the case to trial. In April 2014, Winston was caught on surveillance camera shoplifting $32 worth of crab legs from a Publix in Tallahassee. He initially denied that he shoplifted but then confessed; as punishment, he was temporarily prohibited from playing with the FSU baseball team and performed 20 hours of community service.

In 2015, Winston chose to relinquish his last two years of eligibility as a college athlete and enter the NFL draft. His previous rape allegations would reemerge in April of that year, when Kinsman sued Winston, accusing the football player of sexual battery, assault, emotional distress, and false imprisonment. Winston countersued her for making false accusations, noting that she sued him just before the National Football League (NFL) draft, which began on April 30, 2015, hoping to obtain money just as he was about to sign a large contract. The suit and countersuit were settled out of court, with the settlement not made public. Kinsman also sued FSU for Title IX violations, claiming that after she told FSU officials about the alleged rape, they failed to make a decent effort to investigate, covered up her accusation and a similar allegation of sexual misconduct against Winston by another woman, and acted in an adversarial manner toward her because their main objective was to protect their star football player. In January 2016, FSU settled Kinsman’s lawsuit, giving her $950,000 for Title IX violations but not admitting guilt.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him as their first overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft; he was the first college player in the nation to be chosen that year. Despite much scrutiny regarding Winston’s previous rape allegations and other history, the Buccaneers offered him a contract. In 2015, Winston became the third rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season (4,042) and was selected to the All-Rookie Team.

In his early years as a professional athlete, Winston continued to face scrutiny for his behavior on and off the field. In November 2017, after he was removed from a game for poor performance, he walked onto the field after a play and hit New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore on the back of his helmet, initiating a brawl. The NFL suspended Winston for three games in 2018 for sexually accosting a female Uber driver, who then filed a lawsuit against Winston that was settled out of court.

In 2019, Winston became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 30 or more touchdowns and throw 30 or more interceptions in the same season. The latter included seven interceptions that the defense returned for touchdowns, another NFL record. Although Winston led the league in passing yards with 5,109, the Buccaneers posted a subpar 7-9 record. The Buccaneers did not renew his contract. He then played with the New Orleans Saints (2020 to 2023), where he played mostly in a back-up role. He signed with the Cleveland Browns for the 2024-25 season, and, more recently, with the New York Giants, in 2025. Winston married Breion Allen Winston on March 27, 2020; they have two sons. After taking online courses at FSU, Winston earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology, with a minor in business, in 2022.