Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Real Story Behind Jameis Winston’s Crab Legs Pic on Draft Night

jameis winston crab celebration2

*Jameis Winston seemed to poked some fun at his past transgressions while celebrating his No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, sending sports commentators into a tizzy.

Hours after being selected by the Buccaneers, the former Florida State quarterback posted an Instagram photo of himself posing in front of a serving of crab legs, likely a reference to that time last year when he was cited for shoplifting crab legs from a Tallahassee Publix, one of several off-the-field incidents that marred his college career at FSU.

Winston had tweeted, “Thanks Capt for the crab legs,” and linked to the Instagram photo before it was eventually deleted. The Tampa Bay Times reported Friday that the Buccaneers “encouraged” Winston to take down the photo.

But it was too late. The debate in sports media had already started about Winston’s maturity level, and whether he had really learned from the various off-the-field mistakes that threatened to undermine his stock in the draft.

As previously reported, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner was given a civil citation for shoplifting on April 29, 2014, after he walked out of the Publix without paying for $32 worth of crab legs and crawfish. At the time, he acknowledged he “made a terrible mistake,” saying he left the store “without paying for one of my items.”

During a recent appearance on ESPN’s “Draft Academy,” Winston claimed he did not steal the crab legs, saying instead that they were given to him by a grocery store employee.

The incident had somewhat fallen off the radar, until Winston appeared to rub it back in the face of haters once he was selected as the No. 1 pick.

Not the case, says Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

In a series of tweets, he explains that Winston’s “Thanks Capt for the crab legs” message was to one of the crab boat captains from the reality series “Deadliest Catch”:

Winston also was accused of sexual assault during his freshman season at Florida State but never was charged. In addition, he generated negative headlines last season when he was suspended for one game after climbing onto a table in the FSU student union and shouting an obscenity.

Winston thanked the Buccaneers for drafting him Thursday night.

“Actions speak so much louder than words, or what they may have read or what they may have heard,” he said. “It’s about your actions. Whatever is in the past is in the past. I look forward to gaining everyone’s trust.”

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