Should Giants Consider Trading QB Jameis Winston to the Saints?

The New Orleans Saints learned on Saturday that long-time quarterback Derek Carr’s shoulder injury is significant enough to cause him to call it a career. That means that the Saints’ depth chart at quarterback consists of rookie Tyle Shough, second-year man Spencer Rattler, and second-year man Jake Haener.

Meanwhile, the New York Giants have two experienced quarterbacks on the roster: projected starter Russell Wilson and backup Jameis Winston, who have played 10+ years in the league, and Tommy DeVito, who is entering his third season.

There is also rookie Jaxson Dart, who is being counted on as the future starter for the Giants. Dart, in 7-on-7 drills over a two-day span at Giants rookie minicamp, showed signs of promise and leadership, though making any definitive assumptions about how close he is to being ready for the real NFL deal is way too premature.

Still, if Dart continues to make progress over the next several weeks, perhaps he might convince the coaches that he’s ready for a bigger role sooner rather than later.

If that were the case, then perhaps the Giants would want to see if the Saints have interest in Winston, who played with them as a backup for four seasons (2020-2023). 

Winston was signed to a two-year contract worth $8 million, which could increase if he receives starter snaps and hits playing incentives. Wilso, meanwhile, is signed to a one-year deal worth $11 million.

If Dart is on a trajectory to be ready sooner than thought and to move ahead of Winston on the depth chart, then it makes sense for the Giatns to see if the Saints might be interested in a reunion with their one-time signal caller.

While the Saints have a new coaching staff and offensive system, Winston was beloved during his time in New Orleans and has a reputation for being an elite teammate and leader.

But from the Giants’ perspective, trading Winston has pros and cons. The pro side is that they could pick up some Day 3 capital, which would be welcome since they’ve already traded away a third-round pick (for Dart) and are not projected to get any comp picks.

The negative would be they’d lose a trusted veteran voice who was being counted on to help groom Dart. 

But that wouldn’t be a deal-breaker as they’d still have Wilson. Plus, Daboll has taken a very hands-on approach to getting Dart ready for an eventual starting role, and, as a bonus, Eli Manning is still in the building. 

The other negative is that if something happened to Wilson early in the year, that would throw Dart into the mix, perhaps before he’s ready to be out there.

That said, the compensation would have to be better than a seventh-round pick. The difficulty with gauging the return is that it’s rare that a veteran, former starting quarterback is traded. 

The Saints could wait and see if other quarterbacks become available—perhaps they might even pounce on DeVito, who appears to be a longshot to make the Giants’ roster if they stay with Wilson, Winston, and Dart. 

But if the Saints want to ensure that new head coach Kellen Moore’s tenure gets off to a strong start, it’s hard to argue that Winston and his experience wouldn’t be worth giving up a Day 3 pick.

The question the Giants must ask themselves, should the Saints even be interested in a deal for Winston, is whether having a veteran who could come in and operate the offense and still be productive enough to win games should the starter go down is more valuable than a pick that would ultimately be used on a bottom-of-the-rotation player.

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