Back when he was known as Evan Dietrich-Smith and played in front of Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers, the "artist" currently known as Evan Smith saw first hand what it took for a young quarterback to succeed in the NFL.
Smith, an undrafted free agent signing of the Green Bay Packers back in 2009, may have been a backup in the years proceeding Rodgers taking over for Brett Favre as the team's starter, but he does remember how the reigning NFL MVP handled himself at a young age.
Now as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Smith is going out on a limb to compare first-year signal caller Jameis Winston to the star Packers quarterback:
"I've only been around two other quarterbacks. I played with one who was really good. He reminds me of a very young version of him," Smith said, via Yahoo Sports. "When I first got to Green Bay, you could see the talent there, you could see Aaron (Rodgers) was starting to take off as a superstar. You can tell Jameis has that potential."
If that isn't some mighty high praise right there. To be fair, Smith isn't indicating that this year's version of Winston will suddenly morph into what we have seen from Rodgers since he earned his spot among the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Instead, he's comparing Winston to a young Rodgers. In this, there is some sense to be made.
Smith continued:
"You see it with the brains. You definitely see the arm talent. That's one thing that will jump off the film at you. He obviously has a baseball background, and he knows how to throw it. But the anticipation on his throws is something that really wows you. Sometimes we watch film and say, 'Wow that was a really good throw.'"
That's something we must take into account here. Winston displayed plus-level on-field leadership during his short stint with Florida State. His leadership presence, much like what we saw from Rodgers at CAL, was there. It wasn't something we had to look long and hard for.
He also does a tremendous job with ball placement—something most young quarterbacks struggle with.
Unfortunately for Winston, he's not going to have the benefit of sitting behind a future Hall of Famer like Rodgers did in his first three seasons in the NFL. That enabled Rodgers to improve a great deal on his decision making, which is a facet of the game Winston will continue to struggle with.
In all, Smith's comments are the latest in a string of positive words being spoken about Winston since the Buccaneers made him the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft back in May. With his own talent readily available for the common observer to see and the combination of talented weapons he has on offense, Winston could put up a surprisingly good rookie campaign.