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New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston (19) speaks with members of the media during Mandatory Minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Giants Training Center in East Rutherford on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NY Giants QB Jameis Winston Just Wants to Bring Joy to the Game

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Patricia Traina | Last updated Jun 18, 2025 8:00 AM ET

New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston has a league-wide reputation as being a guy who is a bit of a character.

His larger-than-life and affable personality has made him something of a legend. This approach has helped Winston, the first overall pick in the 2015 draft, survive going from being a long-term franchise quarterback to a career backup.

“I'm grateful that I can bring joy to the game,” he said Tuesday after the team completed the first of its two-day mandatory minicamp.

“I'm grateful that through my hard work and effort on the football field, people notice me by my character. That's just something that comes with it. This is the greatest game in the world. So, we need to be able to drop our hair a little bit and notice that everyone has their own individual role.”

Lest anyone think Winston doesn’t take his job seriously, he does. During the first day of the team’s minicamp, he was spotted conferring with coaches and teammates while also showing good command of the huddle during his 11-on-11 reps.

While he doesn’t like to make mistakes, if he does so in practice, he shakes it off and moves on to the next play. And he’s always among the first members of the team to enthusiastically congratulate a teammate for a play made in practice or, if a mistake was made, offer words of encouragement.

“He has the most unique balance I've ever seen of light but serious,” receiver Darius Slayton said last week about Winston.

“He's very serious because he is a quarterback, so he's very knowledgeable. He's very serious when he needs to be, but at the same time, he has a light energy about him, which keeps people calm. So, it's not like you're not nervous to play with him.”

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Winston is still having fun playing the game

Winston still approaches the game like he’s a kid playing for fun rather than for money. Despite the bumps his career has taken, he’s never quit on himself and has remained appreciative of the opportunity he’s been given, one that he pointed out not everyone gets.

“When I first came into this league, I wasn't looked upon as a man of high character. I wasn't looked upon as that team-oriented guy. I had this perception of me that just wasn't true,” the 31-year-old said.

“Through my course of diving in and growing every single year, I’ve proven myself to be who I am. I think that the greatest compliment that someone can give you is that you're truly who you are, despite the character or the giggles. I think if you ask any of my teammates, any of my coaches who I am, they would say, ‘Jameis is truly who he is.’”

Besides his abilities as a quarterback, the value Winston brings to the table is his failure to develop into a long-term franchise quarterback for the Bucs, the team with which he started his professional career.

His mistakes and experiences are ones that he can share with rookie Jaxson Dart in the hopes of steering Dart away from any of the pitfalls that derail a quarterback’s career.

“I think one of the toughest ways to experience something is through experience,” he said. “So I feel like some of the trials and some of the victories that Russ (Wilson) and myself or even Tommy (DeVito) have had throughout our career, we're able to relay that message to him in a way that maybe he gets a chance to see something before it happens or maybe we give him a few nuggets that he can take so he doesn't put himself in situations that we may have put ourselves in.

“But ultimately, Jaxson is his own guy. So, he's going (to) get out there, and he's going (to) have some great human experiences, but if we can speak to him and encourage him in a way that limits some of the lack of experience, that'll be beneficial for him.”