Giants Sign QB Jameis Winston To 2-Year Extension

Winston, 32, was entering the second and final season of the two-year deal that brought him to New York last offseason. Now, he will remain under contract with the Giants through the 2028 season, positioning him to be Jaxson Dart’s backup for the foreseeable future.

The $6.5MM AAV extension represents a $2.5MM raise over Winston’s first deal with the Giants. It places him close to the top of the quarterback market, but he remains short of both Davis Mills and Marcus Mariota, who both signed for $7MM earlier this year.

New York can afford to pay top-dollar for a backup with Dart on his rookie contract, especially given the 23-year-old’s reckless running style. Winston started two games last year with Dart in concussion protocol and added another notch to his boom-or-bust resume. He put up 567 yards and two touchdowns through the air, another score on the ground, and a 33-year receiving touchdown from wideout Gunner Olszewski. Winston also completed just 56.9% of his passes and turned the ball over three times – and the Giants lost both games.

Winston’s extension may also allow New York to get under the salary cap before the regular season. During the offseason, only the top 51 cap hits of each team are charged on the cap. But clubs must account for all 53 players by the start of Week 1. With those rules in effect, the Giants are $1.76MM above the 2026 limit (via OverTheCap). But they could structure Winston’s new contract to clear as much as $2.12MM in cap space by converting his $3.95MM salary to the veteran minimum of $1.3MM and prorating the remainder as a signing bonus. However, this would require New York to use three void years in the deal, which they generally avoid. Either way, the Giants will need to create more cap spaces for in-season roster moves, so they likely have plans for a restructure or another extension sometime this month.

Winston, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015, may never have lived up to his draft billing, but he has still put together a fine career by NFL standards. He started 70 games for the Buccaneers on his rookie contract, earning a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie along with a second-place finish in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. He never made the playoffs in Tampa Bay, but his 2019 season will go down in history as the league’s first-ever 30-touchdown, 30-interception campaign. At the peak of his gunslinger powers, Winston led the league in both passing yards (5,109) and interceptions (30), both career-highs by a wide margin.

Winston stayed in the NFC South after hitting free agency in 2020 and signed with the Saints to be Drew Brees’ backup. He took over the starting job when Brees retired the following offseason and led the Saints to a 5-2 start before suffering a season-ending ACL tear. He signed a two-year, $28MM deal to return as the presumptive starter in 2022, but missed time with fractures in his back early in the season and lost his job to Andy Dalton. New Orleans traded for Derek Carr during the 2023 offseason, relegating Winston to the bench. He then signed as Deshaun Watson’s backup in Cleveland and started seven games for the Browns in 2024.

Winston will be 35 years old at the end of his new extension. He already seems to have a media career on tap whenever he does choose to retire, and this deal could ensure that happens in New York. Whether or not he sees the fruits of John Harbaugh’s in-progress re-tooling of the team remains to be seen. But Winston will certainly remain a mentor for Dart and a key veteran presence in the Giants’ locker room for at least another few years.