Star quarterback Jameis Winston has apologised to his Tampa Bay Buccaneers team-mates after he was banned for three games over a March 2016 sexual assault of an Uber driver.
Winston was hit with his suspension last month after a long-running investigation into his groping of the female driver in Arizona two years ago.
He initially denied the allegations but eventually came clean and apologised after the National Football League imposed a three-game ban.
“I talked to my team-mates yesterday and I apologised to them, because I don’t want to be a distraction. Just want to focus on this season,” Winston said.
Winston’s history of not respecting women — he was accused but never charged of raping a woman while the two were students at Florida State and later settled a civil suit — has finally caught up to him.
The Alabama native, who was the overall No1 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, will miss the Bucs’ first three games of the upcoming campaign – September 9 at the New Orleans Saints, September 16 at home against reigning Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles and September 24 against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers.
Winston told reporters on Thursday that he had addressed team-mates over his suspension. The 24-year-old said he had “hard work to do to regain the trust” of those who had supported him.
And he also vowed to be a role model for his newborn son and fiancee.
One day after he was suspended for three games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, after the league said he touched the Uber driver in an “inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent,” Winston’s son was born to his fiancee Breion Allen.
“I feel like this is really a spiritual attack because my son was born the day after the decision was made,” Winston said.
“So seeing things from a different perspective and learning that I’m going to have to teach that man how to respect women and how to live his day to day life, I really took it upon myself to be proactive and make sure I’m being a great example for him and my fiancee.”
Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter was critical of Winston’s conduct.
“It’s disappointing that Jameis put himself in that position and put our team in that position,” Koetter said.
After the Bucs first training camp practice on Thursday, Winston spoke publicly for the first time about the incident that has cost him his starting job, his status as the team’s franchise quarterback and likely his standing in the community.
Back-up quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will start the first three games in Winston’s place.
