TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Getting to know Kellen Winslow

Staff photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

Winslow has been the Bucs' most consistent - and best - offensive player since being acquired in the offseason.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 15, 2009

TAMPA - He thinks most of us have no idea. He thinks we think he's just a Google search, a YouTube moment that won't go away. Type in: Winslow, Soldier.

Hey, he brought it up, not us.

He's the son of a Hall of Famer. He's the highest-paid tight end in football history. We know that.

But do we know Kellen Winslow? Will he let us?

"It'll come," Winslow said. "It'll come. It takes time."

He has been the Bucs' most consistent - and best - offensive player. We know that. He has 35 catches, five for touchdowns. He has delivered thus far in his first season in Tampa Bay. We know that his leaping above-the-rim touchdown catch last week against the Packers was a sight to see.

"He was up there," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. "Up there."

Know what else we know? Bucs teammates savor Winslow's professionalism, work ethic, smarts and passion. They think there's a vocal leader inside No. 82 waiting to get out.

"Not many people love football like him," Bucs quarterback Byron Leftwich said.

Kellen Boswell Winslow II is home this weekend, in Miami to play the Dolphins, back in the town where he first made his star at the U. This week, Winslow, engaging, happy, chatted at One Buc Place. It was a very nice window into a man who has mostly kept the shades drawn to media since his arrival.

Now we know he thinks he has a longtime quarterback in Josh Freeman. We know what we always knew, really, that Winslow was 19 when "Soldier" came out of his mouth - but didn't know he briefly considered suicide after the 2005 motorcycle accident threatened his NFL dreams.

And now we know he didn't think his TD last week was all that hot.

"I wasn't that high, man," Winslow said. "It really wasn't that hard of a catch. It looked better than what it was. It wasn't a LeBron or a Kobe jump, but it was OK."

Life in Tampa Bay?

He's high on that.

"I got a fresh start here," Winslow said. "I couldn't ask for anything better. Our record is what it is, but I'm truly happy. ... It is only one win, but I haven't won in a long time. You know, coming from Cleveland, it was pretty frustrating over there. I'm just all smiles here."

He smiles more when he lines up and there's the other team's top cornerback on him. That means one of Winslow's teammates has a mismatch, and that makes him happy.

He thinks of Colts tight end Dallas Clark ... and Peyton Manning. He thinks of San Diego tight end Antonio Gates ... and Philip Rivers. He thinks of his dad ... and Dan Fouts.

Can Josh Freeman be that guy for him?

"He can, man," Winslow said.

What else has Kellen Winslow learned?

"You know what I've learned?" he said. "To make a long story short, the whole 'Soldier' thing I learned a whole lot from. I was 19 years old, you know. Kellen Winslow's son says something, it gets magnified. It seems like everything I say, good or bad, gets magnified. I've learned to stay quiet and just play ball."

Cordial, but cautious.

Back to the game he loves - loves.

"I was born into this. I saw my dad, this god figure when I was growing up, and that's who I wanted to be like. Ever since I can remember, ever since I was 4 or 5, this is what I wanted to do, and I'm doing it."

He broke his leg in the second game of his NFL career. It got worse ...

"I get a motorcycle. I think of former Duke star Jay Williams the moment I bought it. I'm like, man, that's not going to happen. And a month and a half later, I made one mistake on the bike and my whole life changed.

"I really thought of suicide, man, to be honest, but my wife was right at my side, my family was right there. Because I was told I was never going to play again. I was miserable. I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to live anymore. What am I going to do? My dream was gone ... but I didn't let it be."

His biggest dream?

"I want to be the best. That's why I play the game. That's what I've always wanted to do, play tight end, do better than my dad ...

"I haven't done anything yet. If I ended my career today, I've done nothing. I've done what a lot of other tight ends have done. That's no disrespect to them, but I have higher goals for myself - so do you guys."

He wants to win. That's what he wants to do. He thinks Morris and Freeman are the men to lead the way, calling Freeman "the face of the future." Oh, and he'd like to try some defense, outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.

Huh?

Winslow grinned.

"Offensively, you have to play it a certain way. If I played defense, I could say whatever I wanted, I could be a totally different guy. You would see the real me ... Defensively, man, I'd be like a (Warren) Sapp, John Randle guy. I'd be talking the most stuff out there ... "

Winslow laughed.

It's a good laugh.

Coming soon: vocal leadership?

"It just takes time. I just can't come in and Ray Lewis. I just can't do that. It's not my time yet."

That's what he knows.

And now we know it, too.

Nice, isn't it?

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT