Jameis Winston says crab legs were given to him for free (Video)

Jameis Winston recently sat down with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh as part of a feature on ESPN called “Draft Academy,” which is designed to help prepare top prospects for meetings and interviews they will have with NFL teams. During the session, Winston had a chance to discuss his infamous stolen crab legs incident.

The conversation started when Harbaugh and Michigan quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch told Winston not to leave out the shoplifting story when teams ask about his off-field issues. Harbaugh said Winston could just quickly tell teams he “f–ed up and learned from it,” and Jameis responded by clarifying that he did not think he was stealing the crab legs.

“How am I supposed to handle if I got them for free?” Winston asked.

Harbaugh asked him to elaborate.

“Well, a week before was my buddy’s birthday and we had got a cake,” Winston said, as transcribed by Nick Bromberg of Dr. Saturday. “We met a dude that worked inside Publix and he said, ‘Hey, anytime you come in here, I got you.’ So that day, we just walked out and he hooked us up with that. And when I went to get crab legs, I did the same thing and he just gave them to me and I walked out. And someone from inside the store had told the security that I didn’t pay for them and that’s how the whole thing started.”

In other words, Winston is claiming he had a crab leg hookup at Publix. Harbaugh advised the former Florida State star to keep that story in a “tiny box” and admit he made a mistake.

Very few people are going to believe that Winston didn’t realize he was doing something wrong, whether that is the truth or not. The best thing he can do when discussing his off-field issues — which seem to grow by the day — is take ownership of them and tell NFL teams he learned from them.