Jameis Winston celebrated his first-overall selection by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with his family in Bessemer, Alabama, on Thursday night.
There was a photo shoot in front of a giant wall graphic of him in his Seminoles uniform. There was a roped-off red carpet in the driveway.
And at the conclusion of the draft, the top pick in the 2015 NFL Draft commemorated the occasion by dining on none other than a handful of crab legs (in an Instagram post that has since been deleted).
Yes, he really ate crab legs.
The same player who was once cited for shoplifting crab legs from a Publix -- resulting in a suspension from Florida State's baseball team and a stern talking-to from football coach Jimbo Fisher -- decided to troll the rest of the sporting world by donning his new Bucs jersey and draft cap, and snapping a photo with a plate full of the delectable seafood.
Tampa's new signal-caller, routinely subjected to criticism in the months leading up to the draft for his questionable off-field behavior, posted the photo to his Instagram account with the simple caption "Thanks Capt for the crab legs." It was the social media equivalent of one being caught with a hand in the cookie jar, only to later saunter along with a sleeve of Oreos, pieces of cookie in his toothy grin and not a single care for another's judgment.
As the newest top selection in NFL draft history, tonight is his night. His crab leg dinner and near future appear to be worry-free.
UPDATE: Despite earlier reports that the Buccaneers told Winston to take down the photo, general manager Jason Licht refuted the claims on the Rich Eisen Show Friday.
"No one here told him to take that down. I don't know if that's speculation or misinformation," Licht said. "Of course we saw it. The guy loves his crab legs. I love beer and wings. There's a place here in town called the Press Box, if they sent me a dozen wings, I'd probably post it on my Facebook account.
"I just encourage the fans and people to know that we feel very confident in the guy. We think he's matured, he's growing up. He's going to have to become a man just like all our draft picks, just like anybody who gets a job out of college. Only time will tell, but we're confident that that will take place."
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