The first pick of the 2015 NFL Draft will make his debut on Saturday night for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jameis Winston will take the field after a successful stint at Florida State to take over the Buccaneers offense and begin his professional career. After winning a national championship and Heisman trophy in college, he is now tasked with trying to get Tampa Bay a winning record in the upcoming year as they take on the Minnesota Vikings.
Winston came into Tampa Bay as the immediate starter for the team. The Buccaneers had Mike Glennon on the roster, but are moving on from him with Winston under center. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers have no plans on trading Glennon this season as they will use him as a backup to Winston, but if the rookie is successful then the third-year quarterback can expect to be moved in the offseason. Winston comes in with some valuable offensive pieces to work with. Vincent Jackson is back as the savvy veteran while Mike Evans comes into his second season in the league following a successful rookie year. They are joined by Doug Martin and Bobby Rainey in the backfield.
Winston has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Early returns on the quarterback's training camp performance have been extremely positive and the Buccaneers feel they have their guy. The franchise has been dealing with quarterback issues over the past few years that started with Josh Freeman and now they hope Winston is the fix to all of that.
The Vikings have one preseason game under their belt after playing in the Hall of Fame game. Teddy Bridgewater seemingly picked up right where he left off in his successful rookie season. Bridgewater is expected to see the field a bit more this time around along with the rest of the offense. The breakout star in the first game was Stefon Diggs who looks like he could potentially replace the struggling Cordarrelle Patterson. Mike Wallace and Charles Johnson step in as the top two receiving threats.
One player that will not be seen in the preseason is Adrian Peterson. After a roller coaster 2014 season, the running back opted to return to the Vikings despite demanding a trade earlier in the offseason. However, Minnesota will keep the running back out of the preseason for injury concerns as he is expected to be ready to play come Week 1 of the season.