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Jameis Winston won't be playing baseball on Tampa Bay's watch

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren't going to have to deal with their quarterback showing up at spring training every year, keeping a baseball career in everyone's minds as a possible negotiating ploy.

Call the provision in Jameis' Winston's rookie contract the "Russell Wilson Clause."

Wilson, a former minor-league infielder, seems to show up at Texas Rangers camp every year. To Wilson, it's probably fun. To his agent, it's probably something else as the team has been slow to sign Wilson to a big extension.

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There will be none of that with Winston. The Buccaneers included a contractual clause that Winston, the first overall pick of the NFL draft last week, can't play baseball as long as he is under contract with them, according to The MMQB. Winston already has signed a four-year, $25.35 million deal.

Winston was a very good pitcher at Florida State, in addition to being a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. In 2014 he had a a 1.08 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 33.1 innings, and might have been a better baseball prospect than Wilson, who hit .229 in the low levels of the minors. Winston had never quite closed the door on trying professional baseball. The Buccaneers didn't want to invest the first overall pick in a quarterback and then have him distracted by working on his slider in the offseason. This just eliminates a potential distraction as Winston tries to develop into a franchise quarterback.

So if we do see Winston back on a mound again, we'll know that something went really wrong in Tampa Bay.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!