The Saints are entering the offseason without a defined starter at quarterback following Derek Carr‘s sudden retirement. When appearing on the Up & Adams show, veteran DE Cameron Jordan said if the Saints were to look into acquiring a veteran, he would push New Orleans to acquire Giants QB Jameis Winston.
“There’s Russ (Wilson) over there. They’ve got Jaxson Dart. My guy, Jameis, like, come on down. It makes a lot of sense,” Jordan said. “I’m going all in Jameis as a veteran quarterback. Come on over.”
Winston signed a two-year, $8 million deal with New York this offseason, but the team also added Russell Wilson and first-round rookie Jaxson Dart. Winston’s deal can reach up to $16 million through incentives, which is modest by quarterback contract standards.
If Wilson or Dart perform well as their starter and everyone remains healthy, it could be interesting to see if Winston becomes available at some point.
Winston has an obvious history with Jordan and the Saints after playing in New Orleans from 2020 to 2023. The Saints are currently entering their offseason program, with fourth-round QB Tyler Shough competing with Spencer Rattler for the starting job.
Trading Winston would free up $2 million in cap space for New York and create $1 million in dead money, per OverTheCap.
Winston, 31, is a former first-overall 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.
He signed with the Saints on a one-year, $1.1 million deal in 2020 and returned to New Orleans on another one-year contract worth up to $12 million in 2021 as the starter. He unfortunately tore his ACL after eight games.
The Saints re-signed him to a two-year deal with a maximum value of $28 million and reworked the deal in 2023. The Browns signed Winston to a one-year deal with a maximum value of $8.7 million last March.
In 2024, Winston appeared in 12 games for the Browns with seven starts, completing 61.1 percent of his passes for 2,121 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He added 25 rush attempts for 83 yards and another touchdown.
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