The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will open the season without quarterback Jameis Winston Brandon McCarthy Jersey , who has been suspended three games for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.
Winston said in a statement released on Facebook that the NFL informed him of their decision on Thursday. The discipline stems from the league's investigation of an accusation that the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner groped a female Uber driver during a ride the quarterback took in Arizona, where Winston was attending a charity event in March 2016.
The driver did not file a criminal or civil complaint, however she reported the incident to Uber. The NFL learned of the allegation, when it was reported publicly last November.
"The league promptly initiated a comprehensive investigation that included interviews with several persons, including the driver, Winston and others with relevant information," the NFL said in a statement announcing the suspension. "The league also examined an extensive amount of other evidence, including telephone records, business records, data from electronic devices and other communications."
The Bucs drafted Winston No. 1 overall in 2015, despite questions about the young quarterback's behavior during his college career at Florida State.
Winston, 24, was accused of raping a fellow student at FSU, but was never charged. The university settled a Title IX lawsuit over its handling of the allegations with Winston's accuser, Erica Kinsman P.J. Hall Jersey Raiders , in January 2016 for $1.7 million.
Winston said in his statement Thursday that "in the past 2陆 years my life has been filled with experiences, opportunities and events that have helped me grow, mature and learn." Winston added that he has eliminated alcohol from his life.
Winston, who's thrown for 11,636 yards and 69 touchdowns in three NFL seasons, has started 45 of the Bucs' past 48 games. He missed three games last season with a shoulder injury and the Bucs finished 5-11, missing the playoffs for the 10th straight season.
He will miss the Bucs' season opener at New Orleans on Sept. 9, as well as homes games against defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He will be eligible to return to the team on Sept. 25, the day after Tampa Bay plays the Steelers.
The league said Winston is also required to have a clinical evaluation and cooperate in any recommended program of therapeutic intervention.
"All members of our organization are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the personal conduct policy of the NFL," the Bucs said in a statement. "We are disappointed that Jameis put himself in a position that has been found to violate the policy and accept today's decision by the commissioner."
The suspension will cost Winston $124,411 of his base salary of $705,000 for the upcoming season. The quarterback is set to earn $20.9 million in 2019.
Mikaela Shiffrin passed the 1,000-point milestone for the women’s World Cup season on Wednesday after just 14 starts.
The Olympic champion from the United States took a slalom by a huge margin for her seventh win of the season, and 38th overall.
After skipping two speed races in Val d’Isere last month, Shiffrin leads the overall standings with 1 Pedro Martinez Jersey ,081 points after 16 of this season’s 38 races. Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany, who didn’t enter Wednesday’s slalom, trails by 571 points in second.
If Shiffrin maintains her point average, she would finish the season by setting an all-time record of 2,567 points, easily beating the current best mark of 2,414 set by retired Slovenian standout Tina Maze five years ago.
”I don’t know if I will ever be able to do that. It’s not really one of my goals,” the American said. ”I also have so much respect for the season that Tina Maze had with so many points, it was incredible. There is a part of me that hopes that nobody ever beats that because she should really be remembered as one of the best ski racers of all time.”
Shiffrin, who is the defending overall and four-time slalom World Cup champion, has won five of the last six World Cup races, including last week’s slalom in Lienz where she led the field by more than a second after the opening run, a feat she repeated on Wednesday.
In the second run, Shiffrin defied strong winds and heavy snowfall to beat Wendy Holdener of Switzerland by 1.59 seconds. Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was 2.11 behind in third, while Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova Chris Owings Jersey , the only skier to beat Shiffrin in a slalom event this season, finished 2.24 off the lead in fourth.
”The second run was much closer,” said Shiffrin, who started the final leg with a 1.41-second advantage. ”The first run I was really, really aggressive. It seems like, maybe, I was more aggressive than everyone else.”
After winning the Snow Queen Trophy, Shiffrin was handed a glass crown by Croatian great Janica Kostelic, though the jewelry dropped off her head and broke in pieces during the prize giving ceremony as the American struggled to open a champagne bottle.
In last year’s race on the Sljeme hill, Shiffrin was eying a record-equaling eighth straight slalom win but straddled a gate early in her first run.
”I love racing here so I wanted to come back and have a little bit of redemption and ski aggressive,” said Shiffrin, who also won the event in 2013 and 2015.
”If I am feeling really good with my skiing, I am confident and prepared, then I can go on the starting gate and really, really trust myself in my skiing Authentic Tre'Quan Smith Jersey ,” she added. ”Then I can have these kind of runs that are really fun for me to do but it’s really, really aggressive.”
The result stretched Holdener’s streak to 13 slalom podiums without a win, a World Cup record.
The Swiss skier has finished runner-up in the discipline seven times in total, and five times Shiffrin was the winner.
To Holdener, however, missing out on her maiden slalom triumph doesn’t frustrate her too much.
”I try, and if it works, it works. If not, then nothing has happened. I still love to ski, I am happy to be here and fight with those girls,” said Holdener, who did win a city event and a combined race in 2016.
A men’s slalom on the same course is scheduled for Thursday, while the women’s World Cup continues in Slovenia this weekend. Those races have been moved to Kranjska Gora because of a lack of snow and mild temperatures in Maribor.
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