hroughout the NFL's history, we've had our fair share of clown princes. Not too long ago, Rob Gronkowski was the league's court jester. That history extends back, through Pat McAfee and Chad Ochocinco, past Jared Allen and John Randle to Jim McMahon, Steve McMichael, John Riggins, Alex Karras and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson.

There's probably something deeply insightful to say about the need for goofballs in a sport characterized by militarized order and a seriousness that borders on self-parody, but what's important now is how we reflect on these chosen merrymakers.

The current clown prince is Jameis Winston, who has become the New York Giants' starting quarterback after a brutal knee injury to Jaxson Dart. Though the Giants have traded for former Vikings first-round pick and third-string quarterback JJ McCarthy, all indications at the moment are that Winston will continue to start.

Winston's persona has always been goofy. His 2015 fumble against Oregon in the Rose Bowl was itself an act of unintentional comedy; a Heisman winner who couldn't help but stumble backwards and flop like a beached whale.

That was the culmination of an up-and-down but nevertheless winning season at Florida State, after which the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him with the No 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. At the time, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht praised Winston's leadership and football character, doubling down on that in 2017 by adding that Winston was "the best leader I think I've ever been around – in anything".

More than that, Winston is magnetic, effusively charismatic in a way that spins even his missteps into successes. He has turned an awkward pre-game speech about eating Ws into part of his brand and has made light of an admittedly bizarre incident where he was accused of stealing crab legs while in college.

And his playing style matches this persona. He plays bozo ball; he habitually throws the ball deep, assured that someone is down there to catch it. In the past 20 years, 92 quarterbacks have thrown at least 1,000 total NFL passes. The deepest thrower among all of them is Jameis Winston, whose passes have traveled 10.73 yards downfield on average.

Of that 92-quarterback group, he ranks sixth in pick-six percentage (0.4%) and third in combined touchdown-interception rate at 8.3%. He is the author of the only "30-30" season in NFL history, throwing at least 30 touchdowns along with 30 interceptions. He makes big plays, just not necessarily for the team he plays for.

There is hardly a more charismatic backup in the sport. Fox Sports has recognized that; last year, it made Winston part of its Super Bowl coverage and then covered that coverage – worth it, evidently, as that approach earned recognition, with some media calling him the true MVP of the Super Bowl given how viral his antics became.

This year, Fox Sports decided he would be one of the centerpieces of its World Cup coverage. It was largely a success. He's funny, appealing and goofy. More than a few people predict that after Winston's NFL career is over, he's going to be a media megastar. They may be right.

Sir John Falstaff is an intriguing character in Shakespeare; one of the most beloved fools in the canon, Falstaff's indiscretions are often overlooked by those who adore him. Falstaff engages in armed robbery, takes bribes from nobles, steals valor, purposefully endangers the poor and steals their wages on top of it.

Winston is no fictional character, however. And no analysis of his lovable on-screen persona is complete without addressing his alleged treatment of women.

When it comes to off-field indiscretions, Winston is best known for an incident where he is alleged to have assaulted Erica Kinsman in December 2012 during his time at Florida State, something Winston denies. To say authorities botched the investigation would be a disservice to the concept of botching.

Police are alleged to have warned Kinsman to stop pursuing a claim, saying her life would be "made miserable" because Tallahassee was a "football town". Later, we would learn that the lead investigating officer had been employed as private security for the Seminole Boosters, a fundraising arm for Florida State athletics. FSU would later settle a lawsuit that Kinsman had brought over the allegations. Winston was never charged with a crime over the allegations.

Meanwhile, Winston was the subject of another allegation at FSU after a woman who had sex with him reported to a victim's advocate that the encounter was "of such a nature that she felt violated or felt that she needed to seek some type of counseling for her emotions about the experience". While the woman did not accuse Winston of rape, some outlets characterized the incident as another allegation of sexual assault. A prosecutor said that based on what she was told of what happened, Winston had not committed a crime.

When the Buccaneers drafted Winston, they claimed to have conducted a thorough investigation into his character. They interviewed 75 people with experience of Winston. They never made contact with Kinsman or her attorney. "If he wasn't a good guy, we wouldn't have used the first pick on him," Licht said.

A year later, Winston was accused of groping an Uber driver by grabbing her crotch.

The NFL ultimately concluded that Winston touched the driver in a sexual manner, discounting testimony from Winston's friends given inconsistencies in witness statements from those the quarterback claimed were with him at the time. Winston was not criminally charged over these allegations either. While not admitting guilt, he said: "I would like to say I'm sorry to the Uber driver for the position I put you in. It is uncharacteristic of me and I genuinely apologize."

This series of allegations background something revealing and concerning that he told a group of elementary school kids a year after the alleged incident with the Uber driver. There to preach self-confidence, he said to the children, "All my young boys, stand up. The ladies, sit down … We strong, right? We strong! We strong, right? … Now a lot of boys aren't supposed to be soft-spoken … One day, you'll have a very, very deep voice. But the ladies, they're supposed to be silent, polite, gentle. My men, my men [are] supposed to be strong."

Winston settled privately with Kinsman and the Uber driver in civil cases and he did apologize for what he had said to the schoolchildren.

His defenders will point out that most of the controversies around Winston – the bulk of negative press surrounding him – were a decade or more ago. What are we to do with them today?

But as his media profile expands, these incidents matter than they did when he was only playing. At some level, his primary job is to play football; relay the play in the huddle, call audibles at the line, read defenses after the snap and deliver the ball to the intended receiver.

It's a job that comes with attention and a public profile, but it is not fundamentally reliant on whether he is a good role model. In the media, however, his job his personality. He is cast as likable and approachable and so our understanding of his behavior becomes ever more important.

And while Winston has never been charged with crimes over the allegations against him, he has never expressed sympathy for the ordeal Kinsman went through – the death threats and harassment she endured. In fact, the one person he seems most worried about is someone else accused of sexual assault.

In 2024, he came to the defense of his then-teammate Deshaun Watson after he had been booed by his own fans at the Cleveland Browns. "I'm very upset with the reaction to a man that has the world against him for the past four years," Winston said. It's fair to say that many Browns fans weren't just against Watson because he is a bad quarterback but because he has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women. (Watson never faced criminal charges over the allegations but the NFL suspended him for most of the 2022 season after its own investigation. He also reached out-of-court settlements with nearly two dozen of his accusers, without an admission of liability.)

Every charming quote from Winston shared across platforms – and there are dozens, including more than one from this last weekend before and after the Giants' win over the Titans that the media lapped up – serves as a reminder that sports media writ large appears to value those who have been accused of sexual assault rather than survivors, matching a pattern we seem to see in college: there's evidence that students accused of committing sexual assault often receive special treatment and benefit academically, socially and professionally after being accused.

Moreover, there was never a reckoning for Winston as there has been for some other high-profile athletes. No one is required to forgive Michael Vick, who was jailed for his part in a dog-fighting ring, but it is undeniable that he not only served time, but did work to improve welfare for countless animals both publicly and privately years after he returned to the spotlight.

This does not mean Vick a public spotlight, but rather that a precondition to his entry into public life was to do work. Not only have we refused to institute that kind of standard for other types of allegations, we've proactively promoted charismatic examples that suggest the opposite.

In literature, the fool is often a harmless figure – comic relief to lighten an otherwise serious story. We should make sure our real-life jesters are the same.