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Lovie Smith announces that Jameis Winston will be the starter for the Buccaneers

There will be no quarterback competition in Tampa Bay. Even though training camp has just started, Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith has already named rookie quarterback Jameis Winston as the team’s starter.

“Jameis Winston will be our starting quarterback, he’ll take the first reps tomorrow,” Smith said, via the team’s official site. “We’re excited about that. A lot of things go into that (decision). We’ve had a lot of evaluation of him. It’s where we feel like he is. We brought him here to be our quarterback and we feel that he’s ready to take this next step.”

In no way is it a surprise that Smith chose the former Heisman Trophy winner and first-overall draft pick to lead the team this fall. However, it is a bit contradictory to previous comments that Smith made indicating that Winston will have to compete to earn the starting job.

Nevertheless, Winston will throw his first pass at camp on Saturday. The team will face their first preseason opponent on August 15 when they square off against the Minnesota Vikings.

Mike Glennon and Seth Lobato sit behind Winston on the depth chart. And while Glennon showed some promise as a starter over the past couple seasons, it was readily apparent Tampa Bay envisioned Winston starting out of the gate.

If all remains status-quo throughout the preseason, we will see Winston officially for the first time when the Buccaneers host the Tennessee Titans in their season-opener on September 13.

Photo: USA Today Sports

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