Saints Finalizing One-Year Deal For Jameis Winston

According to Charles Robinson, the Saints are finalizing a one-year deal to sign former Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston.

Winston’s wait for a job after Tampa Bay allowed him to test unrestricted free agency finally ends. The former No. 1 overall pick will look to resurrect his career in New Orleans like Teddy Bridgewater did, who turned a stint behind Brees into a starting job with the Panthers. 

Winston will compete with Taysom Hill to be the No. 2 quarterback behind Drew Brees. Given how the Saints like to use Hill in a variety of roles that expose him to more injury risk than the traditional backup quarterback, Winston could see some playing time. 

Ian Rapoport reports Winston turned down more lucrative offers from other teams to sign with the Saints.

Brees just signed an extension this offseason but with a broadcast job waiting for him at NBC, this is widely expected to be his final season. 

Winston, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2015. He played out the 2019 season under the fifth-year option from his rookie contract and made a base salary of $20.922 million.

Winston is testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his NFL career in 2020. 

In 2019, Winston appeared in all 16 games for the Buccaneers and completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 5,109 yards, 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions while rushing for 250 yards and one touchdown.

We had him included in our Top 100 Available 2020 Free Agents list.