E.J. Manuel

Ronde Barber knows a thing or two about quarterbacks after spending his entire 16-year NFL career trying to intercept them. So what does he think about the Bucs’ new signal-caller, Jameis Winston? Last week, the Buccaneer great sat down with CBS to discuss.

“He gives you the spectacular, but he also gives you the rookie," Barber said, via JoeBucsFan. “But what I will say about (Jameis) is he plays with zero fear. He’ll let go of any ball. He has that confidence. I’ve played against guys that have supreme confidence in themselves and their ability to make plays. You can already see it. He has no fear letting the ball go."

It’s easy to draw the comparison between Winston and Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel. Winston succeeded Manuel as Florida State’s starter and both were first-round picks in the NFL Draft. But according to Barber, they’re nothing alike.

“The guy that preceded him at Florida State, E.J. Manuel, I did a couple of games of Buffalo over these two years that I’ve been working at FOX, and he is the other way,” Barber said. “He’s timid. He holds the ball. He’s scared to deliver it when he needs to. This guy (Winston) is the complete opposite, maybe to a detriment at times; he throws a lot of interceptions."

Winston will likely see many highs and lows this season, as any rookie does. But the good news is he's got two, star WRs to throw to in Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans. The bad news is the offensive line is a question. It may be a tough go at first, but things should start to click with game experience. We rank Winston 24th, which puts him outside QB2 range in ten team leagues, but he could end up being a waiver wire pickup at some point this season with QB2 value and a chance to be a streaming starter.