The New Orleans Saints have their starting quarterback, and now they also have their backup.
Last week, the Saints signed Derek Carr as a free agent, publicly naming him QB1. Monday night, Jameis Winston agreed to a restructured deal that will keep him in New Orleans, according to a CBS Sports report.
Winston’s new contract is a one-year deal worth up to $8 million, according to an NFL Network report. He was set to count $15.6 million against the team’s salary cap this season, a figure the Saints were never going to carry after clearly signaling it had moved on from Winston during the 2022 season when they benched him for veteran backup Andy Dalton.
Winston has spent three seasons in New Orleans, one as a backup to Drew Brees, the others entering the season as the starter. In that time, he signed three contracts with the team but appeared in only 14 games, including 10 starts.
The former No. 1 overall pick joined the Saints on a cheap, one-year deal in the summer of 2020 eager to learn from a future Hall of Famer. He was coming off an up-and-down tenure as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter and was hoping to resuscitate his career under Brees and former coach Sean Payton’s tutelage.
Winston made a positive impression on the coaching staff and his teammates during Brees’ final season, signed another one-year deal shortly after Brees’ retirement, and was primed to succeed Brees after he beat Taysom Hill in a training camp competition.
Winston got off to a strong start. Though the Saints mostly leaned on their defense and rushing attack early in the 2021 campaign, they won four of their first six games while Winston fired 13 touchdowns against three interceptions.
But things unraveled from there. Winston tore his ACL in his seventh game of the 2021 season when his former Buccaneers teammate, Devin White, tackled him from behind on a scramble. The Saints went 4-6 without Winston in the lineup, missing the playoffs.
Winston was a free agent the ensuing offseason, and New Orleans first tried to swing a blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson before returning to Winston with a two-year contract. Still, Winston was ready to compete by the start of training camp and was locked in as the Saints’ starting quarterback.
In Week 1, Winston led a tremendous comeback against the Atlanta Falcons, completing 13 of his 16 attempts for 213 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone.
But, in that game, Winston suffered four lower back fractures. He tried to play through it the next two weeks but was obviously compromised, throwing five interceptions while taking seven sacks in losses to the Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers. During those games, Winston also suffered a ruptured tendon in his foot.
He joined the team for a transatlantic flight to London shortly after the Carolina loss — a long trip he later regretted making, considering his back injuries — but did not play for that week’s international game against the Minnesota Vikings, with Dalton taking over as the starter.
In fact, Winston’s final play last season was a desperation interception thrown in the closing seconds against Carolina in Week 3.
Though he returned to the Saints sidelines in uniform for a Week 6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Winston did not play a single snap after the Saints turned the offense over to Dalton, who is now a free agent.
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