Jameis Winston was widely purported to be the most NFL-ready quarterback in the 2015 NFL draftand thats why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him with the No. 1 overall pickbut his preseason debut against the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday made it clear that the Florida State product still has a long way to go in his development.At times, Winston flashed the arm talent and overall physical skill set that enticed the Buccaneers to select him with the top choice and make him their quarterback of the future. His first completion of the night, a 40-yard pass to wide receiver Vincent Jackson, was his best.However, it was not until his seventh series of the nighta point at which the Vikings defense had pulled most of its startersthat Winston was finally able to get into rhythm and lead the Buccaneers on a nine-play, 76-yard touchdown drive, which he capped off with an eight-yard rushing touchdown.The deep ball to Jackson shown above, which Winston made despite taking a heavy hit to his lower body from Vikings defensive tackle Tom Johnson, was a great demonstration of his arm talent to throw the ball long-distance with velocity and accuracy.Winstons end-of-half Hail Mary attempt, his final throw of his debut game, was too. Even though it was ultimately broken up by Vikings defenders, Winston delivered the ball more than 60 yards downfieldafter moving to his left and resetting his feetright on line to give his intended receiver, Russell Shepard, a chance to make the play.The receiver with which Winston showed the best rapport on Saturday night was Louis Murphy, who caught a team-high four receptions for 54 yards from the rookie quarterback. Winston's best throw to Murphy came on a 2nd-and-5 in the second quarter, when he threaded a pass to the receiver nine yards downfield, as he broke inside across tight coverage from Vikings cornerback Jabari Price. That play went for a 12-yard gain.When Winston was at his best Saturday, he displayed the same potential as a thrower that he demonstrated throughout two collegiate seasons. He also showed his athleticism and mobility, as evidenced by his touchdown runaccentuated by a dive over Price at the goal line.The problem with Winstons first preseason game was that there were just as many lowlights as there were highlights. He completed only nine of 19 passing attempts for 131 yards, and also threw an incompletion on a two-point conversion attempt following the touchdown run.Plagued by interceptions throughout his redshirt sophomore year at Florida State, Winston threw his first in a Buccaneers uniform on Saturday when a pass intended for wide receiver Mike Evanswho he targeted three times but failed to make a completion withsailed a few yards past Evans and right into the hands of Vikings safety Antone Exum.To be fair to Winston, that interception was not entirely the quarterbacks fault, as Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, trailing Evans, appeared to get away with holding that went unflagged. As ESPNs Merril Hoge noted in the following Vine, however, Winston made the mistake of staring down his intended target for the duration of the play, allowing Exum to easily read his eyes and break on the ball.Beyond the interception, Winston was inconsistent with his accuracy, especially early in the game. A number of his throws were not even close to reaching their targets, including his first passing attempt of the game, when he tried to force a throw to Austin Seferian-Jenkins in a 3rd-and-4 situation and ended up sailing the ball well over his tight ends head.The following passing chart, compiled from watching each of Winstons 20 throws (including his two-point conversion attempt) on Saturday, breaks down his rate of success throwing to each region of the field, as well as his success on throws that came under pressure, off play action and/or on the run.Winstons ability to make plays under pressure was one of the reasons he emerged as the 2015 NFL drafts top prospects, but he completed fewer than half of his throws against the rush on Saturday. Playing behind a largely inexperienced offensive lineone that could potentially be without veteran right tackle Demar Dotson after he sprained his MCL on SaturdayWinston did not yet look comfortable dealing with pressure in his new scheme.As noted by sideline reporter Ben Leber on the Vikings broadcast of Saturday nights game simulcast on NFL Network, one reason for Winstons issues against the pressure was his mechanicsspecifically, his elongated delivery.One of Winstons ugliest throws resulted from his poor mechanics. As defensive end Brian Robison closed in on him, the slow throwing motion enabled Robinson to hit Winston and force the quarterback to adjust his arm angle as he threw. That resulted in a pass that landed short of his intended target, Jackson, who would not have had a chance to catch the ball even if he had not fallen coming out of his route break.NFL Medias Daniel Jeremiah, a former league scout, used a baseball analogy to describe the flaw in Winstons throwing motion, which could continue to hinder him going forward against faster-paced NFL defenses.One other area that caused Winston significant problems on Saturday was the center-quarterback exchange. During his fifth series of the night, Winston bobbled a high shotgun snap from Garrett Gilkey and was forced to fall on it for a 13-yard loss on 3rd-and-4. On the very next series, Winston fumbled a snap from Gilkey under center, which ultimately led to a six-yard sack as he unsuccessfully attempted to scramble away from Vikings linebacker Gerald Hodges.Those mishaps are justifiable, however, by the fact that he was working with Gilkeya reserve offensive lineman who appeared to be just as much at fault as Winston on both playsrather than Evan Smith, a more experienced center who is the teams regular starter at the position.Winston took one additional sack earlier in the game, but he had minimal chance to avoid that one, as left tackle Donovan SmithWinstons fellow rookie, a second-round pickwas beaten almost immediately off the snap by an inside spin move by Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen.Altogether, Winstons first live game action in a Buccaneers uniform fell well short of the hype. As the first player selected in the entire draft, and as a player who many draft analysts considered to be the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck in 2012, Winston was expected to be much sharper than he was in Minnesota.Its evident that Winston still needs to work on his accuracy and mechanics, while there is reason to remain concerned that interceptions will be a problem for the passer in his rookie season.With that being said, its common for rookie quarterbackseven those selected at the top of the draftto struggle their first time out in an NFL offense. After all, Winstons shaky Saturday came on the heels of a similarly up-and-down performance Friday by No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota, who had turnovers on his first two possessions before leading the Tennessee Titans on his first touchdown drive, as I documented for Bleacher Report.As Jeremiah tweeted following Winstons half of action, the rookie was still abledespite hitting a couple bumps in the roadto show a glimpse of his star potential:Following the game, Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith called Winstons first game a starting spot for the rest of his preseason to come."Everything that he did wrong, we'll correct it and hopefully he won't do it the next time, Smith said, according to ESPN.coms Pat Yasinskas. "Things didn't go exactly how we wanted to early on. But I thought he settled down and did some good things right there at the end.Winston himself said he felt he got better as the game went along, per Yasinskas."You pick up the game and you see how things are flying at you, you get into that mode of just playing football,'' Winston said. "I'm getting better every single play. That was my whole mentalityto get better every single play.''Winstons next opportunity to correct his mistakes and continue to improve will come August 24, on ESPNs Monday Night Football, as the Buccaneers take on the Cincinnati Bengals in their second preseason game.All statistics courtesy of ESPN.com.Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL Draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.Follow @Dan_Hope
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