After two seasons with the New Orleans Saints – one as the understudy to Drew Brees and the second as the starter before an ACL tear derailed his comeback campaign – Jameis Wintson is back on the market as a free agent. Now, at 28 years old, can he still be the face of an NFL franchise?
As the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Winston was supposed to be the quarterback that would change the trajectory of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Viewed as a great pocket passer with an excellent arm and advanced field vision, Winston was touted as an NFL-ready starter after a 26-1 collegiate career with Florida State. All that praise, at one time or another, was true but his career with the Buccaneers never panned out as expected.
A large portion of Winston’s failures with the Buccaneers could be attributed to his unfortunate habit of turning the ball over. 91 interceptions and 31 lost fumbles in 72 games to be exact. His 2019 season with the Buccaneers epitomized his career with the team in a nutshell. His 5109 passing yards, 33 touchdown season in 2019 was saddled with 30 interceptions and 9 lost fumbles. So much potential amidst a collection of bad reads, poor throws, and costly mistakes. It really was a one-of-a-kind season that could only be produced by Winston. It was also his last as a Buccaneer.
An incredibly flawed quarterback with all the physical tools to be successful, Winston hit free agency with limited options. It didn’t help that the quarterback market was plush with veteran options like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Phillip Rivers. Despite re-signing Brees to a one-year deal, the Saints viewed Winston as a low-cost, potentially high-ceiling reclamation project and signed him to a one-year contract.
One year, and 11 pass attempts later, Winston took over for Brees after he retired at the end of the 2020 season. Sean Payton and the Saints front office had built a contending team over the last several years, so this was the best situation Winston had ever found himself in.
Prior to tearing his ACL, Winston played in seven games and was utilized in a completely different manner than we’d seen before. Winston had played in a pass-heavy, vertical offense in his four years under Bruce Arians, and routinely had one of the highest average depth of targets in the NFL. It showcased his natural arm talent, but as we know, it probably asked a little too much of him.
Meanwhile, his role with the Saints under Payton was the exact opposite. Winston went from averaging 35.4 passing attempts in four seasons with the Buccaneers to 23 attempts per game in his seven games as the Saints starter. His completion percentage dropped to 59 percent, but Winston had an absurdly high touchdown percentage of 8.7 percent. That’s a small sample size, but the fact Winston had an interception percentage of just 1.9 percent – the lowest of his career – is more telling.
With the Saints, Winston was playing more conservative, but equally efficient, football. Through the first seven weeks of the season, Winston had 0.211 EPA/play, the eighth-highest in the NFL. As a whole, it’s hard to judge Winston’s season considering the small sample size. We won’t truly know which version of Winston that was until he takes to the field in 2022.
That’s what makes his situation that much more difficult. Winston could likely be another reclamation project for another team or a bridge quarterback to a new era. If 2021 was unequivocally the new Jameis Wintson then you’d bet the house on him landing as a starting quarterback somewhere – if only for a season.
There’ll be a slew of options available as well. The 2022 quarterback class doesn’t feature a definitive QB1 and it’s been sold as one of the weakest classes in a while. There are at least six teams who could be in the market for a new quarterback this offseason – be it through free agency or via the draft. If they’re not convinced that there’s a franchise quarterback worth taking a swing at in the draft, then Winston becomes that much more of an attractive commodity.
Winston has proved he has all of the physical tools to be a starting quarterback. He’s still only 28 years old and, though it was only in a small sample size, has shown that he can cut down on the turnovers in the right system. He’s not a perfect quarterback. Far from it. But there might still be a chance he can be someone’s starting quarterback for the next five plus years, they just have to take a chance.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @ThomasValenfine
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.