Both for the poker face of Sean Payton. The New Orleans Saints coach did not try to hide the team’s desire to re-sign free agent quarterback Jameis Winston if Drew Brees retires as expected.
Payton spoke brilliantly about Winston on ESPN and other media while making a few appearances in Super Bowl week on Wednesday, saying the Saints would like to re-sign him “sooner rather than later.”
Payton also told CBS Sports specifically: Choose Six Podcast who expects Brees to make an announcement “next week or two.”
Payton has been saying for months that he believes the Saints’ next quarterback is already “in the building,” a reference that includes both Winston and Taysom Hill. And he reiterated Wednesday that the Saints have “pretty good vision” for both players.
It was notable that Payton first mentioned Winston and talked about it in more detail when asked about the Saints’ future QB plans for Keyshawn, ESPN’s JWill & Zubin Show, and the NFL Network. “Good morning football“show – saying it was an” easy “question.
Still, Payton stressed that the reason Winston mentioned it first was because he is a free agent and Hill already has a contract for another year.
“Jameis Winston, we know that. We had a year with him. He was fantastic as a leader. He has a huge talent in his arms. He’s a young prospect that we really like,” Payton said in his appearance on ESPN. “When you have a player for a season, it gives you a little bit of a chance to see what it’s about, and there’s a bit of auditioning. But the same audition takes place for us. It has a chance to see.” Hey, that’s how they do it here. Does it suit me? Does this head coach correspond to me, this position coach? Is it a place where I feel comfortable playing? “”
Payton told “Good Morning Football”: “Many times you want to keep your cards closer to the vest [with a] free agent. But he, along with Taysom Hill, we’ve been saying all along, we’re going to develop and train these guys. And Jameis is one of those guys that interests us a lot. “
Winston, who just turned 27 in January, signed a one-year deal with the Saints last spring for $ 1.1 million more incentives because he wanted to learn specifically with Payton and Brees as he tried to revive his career. He called it “a Harvard education in quarterback school.”
Winston didn’t have much experience on the field as there was no preseason and Payton chose to start Hill while Brees was left out of the game for four games for broken ribs and a punctured lung. However, Winston made his best play of the season when he completed a 56-yard touchdown pass in a trick play in the New Orleans playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Winston was 7-of-11 for 75 yards in the regular season, with no touchdowns or changes.
Hill, 30, was 3-1 in those four outings, with some highs and some lows. But Payton explained that part of the reason he chose Hill over Winston was because Hill was in his fourth year in New Orleans, and Payton had promised Hill that he would have that opportunity when he re-signed the year. passed as a restricted free agent.
It looks like this year would be more of an open competition between Winston and Hill, assuming the Saints don’t make any other big moves in the position.
Winston, of course, showed his own plethora of highs and lows during his first five seasons with the Buccaneers after being selected outside of Florida with No. 1 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. The 2013 Heisman Trophy winner led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards in 2019 in his first year under coach Bruce Arians. But he also became the first quarterback in league history to throw at least 30 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions in the same season, causing Tampa Bay to pass to Brad Brady.
Winston went 28-42 in his five seasons as a starter with the Bucs, completing 61.3% of his passes with 19,737 yards, 121 touchdowns and 88 interceptions. Turnover was their largest number, with a total of 111 in five years.