The Saints like what they’ve seen from Jameis Winston. On Wednesday, Saints head coach Sean Payton said there’s “big interest” in bringing the quarterback back for 2021. 
[RELATED: Drew Brees To Retire]
“We had a great exposure for one year with Jameis Winston,” Payton told NFL Network (Twitter link). “We didn’t have a normal offseason, but we had enough time to see what we had with him as a player, as a leader, and as an athlete. I really like what we had a chance to see. He was a tremendous leader for this team. That’s hard to do when you come in new in free agency your first year as a backup quarterback. So that’ll be an important checkmark for us.
“And, a lot of times, you want to hold your cards closer to the vest and he is a free agent. But him, along with Taysom Hill who’s in the building, we’ve said it all along: We’re going to develop and coach those guys. And Jameis is one of those guys that we have a big interest in.”
In 2019, Winston set career-highs in passing yards (5,109) and touchdowns (33) in 2019, while also setting a league-wide watermark with 30 interceptions. After that, Winston joined the Saints on a modest one-year, $1MM pact last year in an effort to rebuild his value. He’s done that, to some extent, by impressing his coaches in practice.
Payton had “great” exposure to Winston, even though the volume wasn’t tremendous. Winston served as the Saints’ QB3, slotted behind both Drew Brees and Taysom Hill. The former No.1 overall pick made four appearances this season, completing seven of his eleven pass attempts for 75 yards. The highlight of his year came in the playoffs, when he threw for a touchdown against his pals.
Now, with Brees set to retire, the Saints could have more reps available for the 27-year-old signal caller.
Winston a ‘tremendous leader’? Who knew?
Crab legs doesn’t have it between the Ears!! Defenses just wait in anticipation for his mistakes to happen!! Which are way too many each and every game!!!
If he’s so great and they like him so much, why play Taysom Hill this year?
Good question. Audition, partly? Maybe that’s it. Payton I assume knows what he’ll get from Winston, who also has an actual starting history. I doubt he knew for sure before this year what he’d get from Hill starting. It does keep teams off balance, having a strange quarterback like Hill as a starter. But that also has its limitations. Unless Hill adjusts, teams have already seen most of the playbook with him. Winston would offer a different one, and is younger. If things go awry with Hill, Winston is another option, and with a questionable starter an experienced backup may be comfortable. As many interceptions as Winston has thrown, there’s never been a backup QB with a 5000 yard season under his belt.
This post is more of a theory than an actual opinion. I’m guessing that this could be the reason.
Trying to keep his value low. Plus Taysom already got paid.
“In 2019, Winston set career-highs in passing yards (5,109) and touchdowns (33) in 2019,”
Seriously, PROOF READ. How can you consider yourself a journalist and not read over what you just wrote before posting it? And yet you want me to pay to be a member. I will gladly pay when you guys start proof reading.
While I agree that they could do with some proofreading, I think the nature of their articles (fast, up-to-date, immediate) is going to mean some typos and not much time for editing.
They state they want people with journalism experience, but what the OP posted is basic sentence structure. I agree that even casual bloggers should write intelligently
Fast? Immediate? They reported the Matthew Stafford trade approximately twelve hours after the transaction.
That’s one story out of tens of thousands they’ve posted. They generally post things as they happen or while they’re in progress. If they didn’t, it’s unlikely that you would be here reading and posting.
btw, I’m not here to defend them. I think they should clean up the errors, grammatical and factual. Just trying to explain why they happen. I don’t think the staff here is as big as the one over at MLBTR.
MLBTR writers. I highly recommend increasing the Spelling & Grammar setting on your Microsoft Word app. Also, install Grammarly!
I’m always amused how teams think that since a QB2 sat behind a HoF’er (Brees, Manning, Brady, Rodgers, Ben et al) will become great QB’s themselves. Too many BU’s to list, but none ever panned out. Winston isn’t a better QB because he sat for 1 year listening to Brees and Payton. Enjoy eating those L’s whomever signs him.
By “leader” do they mean coffee runner?
I get that most players/coaches will hype up others, but when someone has a few dozen snaps in a season, do they think people will buy into that?
Still mad the Saints never started Winston. The man is a baller. Hill can’t even throw it 20 yards down the field. Best to put him back as the Swiss Army knife.
Not sure you can “rebuild your value” based on 11 live game pass attempts. I suspect the Saints have more of an interest in his low salary than his potential to be the starter.