The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the clock for the 2015 NFL Draft, and there's plenty of debate over whom the team should take No. 1 overall this year.
Most of the focus for the franchise will undoubtedly center around the hole it has at quarterback and the possibility that it will draft one of the two Heisman Trophy winners in this year's draft, Florida State's Jameis Winston and Oregon's Marcus Mariota.
Former Bucs general manager Mark Dominik has been analyzing the pair of signal-callers for his role as a television analyst and appears to already have made up his mind on which quarterback he prefers. His pick is Mariota.
"To me the talent level is not that different," Dominik told the Tampa Bay Times' Rick Stroud.
NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah ranks Winston as the sixth-best prospect in this year's draft, while Mariota is five spots behind him. Both are widely considered to be the top two quarterbacks available this year, with a steep drop-off to the next few players at the position.
The former Seminoles star is considered more of a pro-style quarterback and he's widely thought to be the most NFL-ready of the two. It's interesting that Dominik doesn't think there's much of a talent disparity between the two, given concerns over Mariota's ability to transition from a shotgun-based spread offense to the pros. The former Ducks quarterback put up phenomenal numbers during his three seasons as a starter in Eugene, but some scouts are concerned about how his game will translate at the next level.
Winston, however, has numerous off-the-field issues that will give teams pause. It's not a stretch to say he will be one of the most debated prospects in this year's draft class and he will undoubtedly be run through the gamut of interviews with intense scrutiny when he talks with teams during the NFL Scouting Combine. Mariota has virtually no issues off the field, so the bulk of the concerns about his abilities are related to on-field performance.
Current Bucs general manager Jason Licht certainly will be under immense pressure to land a future star with the draft's first overall pick. If he ends up deciding to pass on taking a quarterback with the pick, there's always Jeremiah's No. 1 ranked player in the draft, Florida native Leonard Williams, to fall back on.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
