New Orleans Saints bring back QB Jameis Winston with 1-year deal worth up to $ 12 million, source says

Quarterback Jameis Winston has agreed on a one-year deal worth up to $ 12 million with the New Orleans Saints, a league source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“Who Dat! #NOLA #DreamForever,” former No. 1 overall draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner tweeted

The Saints will have to release a little more salary ceiling on Wednesday before the start of the new competition year. They started the off-season with nearly $ 100 million above the limit, but had that figure cut to about $ 10 million by the beginning of this week.

Winston turned 27 in January. He spent his first five seasons as a starter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before signing a one-year contract last year as a backup with the New Orleans Saints.

Winston went 28-42 as a starter in Tampa, completing 61.3% of his passes with 19,737 yards, 121 touchdowns, and 88 interceptions. He showed some dynamic highs and lows during that tenure – especially in 2019. That year, he led the league with 5,109 passing yards, but also became the first quarterback in NFL history to make at least 30 touchdown passes and 30 in the same season. interceptions. .

Sales were the biggest hurdle for Winston, with a total of 111 in the competition from 2015 to 2019.

When the Buccaneers chose to move up to Tom Brady, Winston decided to try to revive his career in New Orleans. He signed a one-year deal worth just $ 1.1 million plus incentives because he said he wanted “Harvard training at quarterback school” with Sean Payton and Drew Brees.

Winston did not gain much hands-on experience in New Orleans behind Brees and Taysom Hill. But he made his best game of the season when he completed a 56-yard touchdown pass on a trick play in the Saints’ playoff defeat to his former team. Winston was 7th of 11 for 75 yards in the regular season with no touchdowns or turnovers.

Payton made it clear after the season that the Saints wanted to re-sign Winston and let him compete with Hill for the runway after Brees’ retirement. Payton said that, in addition to his arm talent, Winston was “fantastic as a leader.”

Winston was suspended from the first three games of the 2018 season after an eight-month NFL investigation concluded that he was guilty of harmful conduct in March 2016 by touching a female Uber driver “in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent “. A settlement was reached in a separate lawsuit.

ESPN’s Mike Triplett contributed to this report.

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