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Bucs' Alterraun Verner prefers Jameis Winston over Marcus Mariota

Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Alterraun Verner was asked to weigh in on the Jameis Winston vs. Marcus Mariota debate Thursday, and while hesitant at first, he eventually gave the edge to the former Florida State quarterback.

"Obviously with (Josh) McCown being released, quarterback definitely is probably somebody we need," Verner said during an appearance on NFL Network's "NFL AM," according to Greg Auman of The Tampa Bay Times

"A lot of talks between Winston and Mariota. Winston, I haven't seen too much of, honestly, with him being Florida State. (Verner's a UCLA grad) I've seen a lot of Mariota, since he was a Pac-12 guy. I've seen him beat the Bruins on countless occasions and I just know what type of player he is. I think you could go well with either one of those, and I'm not opposed to us probably even trading down, accumulating more picks to try to help us out more. There are a lot of ways you can go, and I think any way they decide to go is going to help the team."

When pressed to choose between the two, Verner said that based on what he's heard, he would go with Winston.

"It's tough. I probably like Winston, from a lot of stuff I've been hearing, a lot of things I've been seeing and things like that," he said. "It's hard for me to go 100 percent there, because I haven't seen him really play. I'm going more on hearsay and things around. From his leadership qualities, that's what I've been hearing a lot. 

"As a quarterback, you want to have that strong leader in the locker room and on the field. Somebody you know you can go out and you feel like you can do anything. From what I hear, that's the type of guy Jameis is. Like I said, the other options are good, too."

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