Report: NFL Might Have Pressured Jameis Winston To Skip NFL Draft

Jameis Winston reportedly made the curious decision recently to skip the NFL draft. Could the potential No. 1 overall pick have had some help?

Bleacher Report NFL writer Jason Cole said Tuesday there’s a chance the NFL actually might have pursued Winston to skip the draft.

“Don’t be surprised if the NFL put a little bit of pressure on Jameis Winston to not be there,” Cole said in a video on BleacherReport.com.

Winston recently met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and that might have been where Goodell urged Winston to stay away from the spotlight for a while.

After having that meeting with Roger Goodell last week that lasted approximately five hours, Jameis Winston has done a number of things to maintain an incredibly low profile.

In addition to skipping the draft, Winston also ditched his Twitter account.

According to Cole, this is all because the NFL is afraid of protests at the draft. Winston was accused of sexual assault during his time at Florida State, and with the recent domestic violence issues in the NFL, the league apparently doesn’t want any undesired attention on the draft.

“There’s a pragmatic approach here. How do they mute the protest that’s likely to happen in the aftermath of the Winston’s selection? This decision by Winston to not attend is an attempt to try and mute that reaction.”