Jameis Winston understands that the only way he is going to silence his critics is by staying out of trouble and succeeding at the NFL level, but don’t confuse his arrogance for carelessness. Winston hears what people say about him, and some of it clearly bothers him.
In a lengthy feature from Kurt Streeter of ESPN the Magazine, Winston spoke about the public’s perception of him. While he owned his obscene outburst on the Florida State campus and said he can’t act “childish” anymore, Winston continued to defend himself against sexual assault allegations.
“So many people try to dehumanize me,” he told Streeter. “They say, ‘Off-field issues.’ They say, ‘The sexual allegation stuff.’ People view me as a convict, and I didn’t even do nothing. People say, ‘How does he play like this and all this stuff going on?’ Like by me playing well during that adversity, that made people think about me worse, thinking I’m a sociopath.”
The women in Winston’s life — his mother Loretta, grandmothers, who he calls Grandma Myrtle and Grandma Patricia, and girlfriend Breion Allen — are also mentioned in the feature. Winston said the rape accusation bothers all of them, too.
“It hurts the women that I respect,” he said.
Streeter also mentioned Winston’s decision to not attend the draft in Chicago, which Jameis recently revealed has to do with his grandmother. That story seems to check out.
When Winston needed a sanctuary from the tension, he came to Grandma Patricia’s house, where he often slept as a boy, alongside at least a dozen cousins. Over a mound of sticky chicken wings at the dining room table, he tells his family that he wants to be in Bessemer during the draft. “Life is going to change a lot,” he says. “I want to be around y’all that day.”
If you’re interested in knowing more about Winston’s family life and where he grew up, the entire piece is worth a read.
