Jameis Winston tells Jim Harbaugh about his Publix crab legs hookup

We now have Jameis Winston’s side of the famous crab legs heist.

ESPN’s Draft Academy showed a snippet of conversation from February when the former Florida State QB visited Michigan to talk to ex-49ers coach Jim Harbaugh as preparation for the 2015 NFL Draft process. Harbaugh told Winston he needed to address NFL teams about the crustacean theft, which led Winston to say he hadn’t stolen the food -- it was part of a routine with a Publix employee (via CollegeSpun.)

At the time, Winston’s crab leg theft was the subject of massive amounts of discourse. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said that after investigating, he believed Winston failed to pay because he was used to shopping at Winn-Dixie rather than Publix and was preoccupied by an order for wings he had just placed. Winston apologized for his “youthful ignorance.”

Of course, a guy at Publix handing out free food to FSU football players would be an obvious NCAA violation -- college athletes aren’t allowed to receive free stuff because they’re college athletes. So if Winston had said he had a connection at Publix hooking him up with free food at the time, he could’ve been ruled ineligible for games.

ESPN did not show any discussion Winston and Harbaugh had about Winston’s alleged rape. Unlike the crab legs incident, for which Winston was cited, fined and given community service, Winston was never charged in the rape case after prosecutors decided there wasn’t enough evidence to press charges. But it seems rather odd that Harbaugh and his assistant would dub Winston’s crab legs incident “the elephant in the room” and urge him to discuss it with NFL teams to avoid the impression of covering up his past while glossing over the more troubling allegation.