Conclusion
Whenever scouts evaluate blue-chip prospects, they attempt to find a "good" and "bad" tape to watch to see a player at his highest and lowest points of his final season. The exercise is done to get a real sense of a player's strengths and weaknesses to determine their ultimate potential as pros. Watching Winston's season-long struggles with turnovers and mechanics, I believe he is a talented but flawed prospect who will need time to develop at the next level.
While he has the talent, confidence, football IQ and charismatic leadership skills to be a franchise quarterback, Winston has only 25 games of major college experience under his belt and hasn't had enough repetitions to master the nuances of the position. Thus, a team interested in taking Winston as a franchise quarterback needs to have a strong teacher in place in the quarterback room as well as a game plan to foster his development as a young quarterback.
Although he remains the top quarterback prospect in college football with valuable experience running a pro-style system, he is not a plug-and-play prospect who can step in and lead a team from Day 1. In time, I believe Winston will be a franchise player, but his 2014 struggles suggest a patient approach might be best for the team that selects him if he comes out following his sophomore season.