If the New York Giants sign Jameis Winston, they’ll need the “secret sauce” to help the veteran quarterback succeed. Winston visited with the Giants on Tuesday, March 18, and while he left without a contract, the Giants could use a simple strategy as motivation to strike a deal.
Fortunately, the formula was concocted and used effectively by a former Giants offensive coordinator. He helped erratic 2015 NFL draft No.1 overall pick Winston play some of the best football of his career.
Sean Payton called plays for the Giants when Kerry Collins passed the franchise to a Super Bowl berth during the 2000 season. Payton’s work with Winston as head coach of the New Orleans Saints over two decades later offers an important object lesson for his former employers.
The lesson was recounted by NFL Insider Josina Anderson. She believes “it’s a good time to remember that Winston had his best QBR, TD% and INT% and a 5-2 start under Sean Payton before an ACL injury derailed his season in 2021. Point is: teams need to do a deeper dive on what Payton did with Winston that year. When asked what the secret sauce was to reigning Winston in, I was told ‘certain route concepts, along with avoiding ones that have given him trouble in his past…tailored plays around his strengths,’ per league source. It’s so easy to label a player, but it’s more productive to figure out why he was thriving then.”
Anderson based a lot of her assessment on her conviction the Giants should no longer play a part in the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes. Instead, she believes “a more compatible and economical vet,” perhaps Winston or Russell Wilson, would be a better fit.
To “pair Winston or Wilson with Shedeur Sanders, and move on” is sound advice for the Giants. Even though the latest Rodgers news offers Big Blue a boost.
Jameis Winston Remains an Intriguing Option
The decision to visit with Winston was part of the Giants casting the widest net possible in their search for a new quarterback. Rodgers and Wilson are also in the mix, along with another Super Bowl winner.
They have a greater pedigree than Winston, but the 31-year-old remains an intriguing option. The intrigue mostly comes from Winston’s gung-ho style.
He’s rarely afraid to stretch the field by attacking coverage vertically. When it works, Winston is a dispenser of big plays.
When it doesn’t, turnovers usually follow in bunches. Like when Winston threw 12 interceptions in as many games with the Cleveland Browns last season.
That kind of turnover rate is part and parcel of life with Winston, who “threw into tight coverage 35.1% of the time last year, the 2nd-highest rate in the NFL,” according to FTN Fantasy’s Adam Pfeifer.
Yet, for all the concerns about his willingness to chance his arm, no matter the coverage, Winston still has merit. Specifically, as somebody who “took over for CLE & immediately their WRs had career days. Jeudy all of the sudden a WR1, Eli Moore made plays, Cedric Tillman went from draft “bust” to uber productive & Njoku from down year statistically to producing. He throws INTs. Maybe the Giants won’t win with him. But he’ll engage the WRs unlike any QB they’ve had in six years,” per Dan Schneier of CBS Sports.
Engaging wide receivers Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson, along with returning vertical threat Darius Slayton, should be a priority for the Giants. If they believe they could get Winston back to the form he enjoyed with the Saints, when he threw 11 picks in four years, this signing would make some sense.
A deal for Winston would be easier to sell if the Giants followed it by selecting a quarterback early in the 2025 NFL draft.
Draft QB Still in Play for Giants
Using the third-overall pick on a potential signal-caller of the future is still a smart move for the Giants. Particularly if they’ve already acquired the right veteran stop-gap.
Choices are limited at the top of the draft, unless the Giants are prepared to trade up and claim ownership of the No. 1 selection. That would make Miami passer Cam Ward a clear choice, but draft scribes still believe the Giants will go in another direction.
The direction is to stay at three and take Shedeur Sanders, according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. He believes the Giants “would get a super accurate passer (74.0% completion rate in 2024) who is tough as nails.”
Kiper’s view is shared by NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah, while there’s also a chance the Giants become enamoured with a less-heralded prospect during the rest of the pre-draft process.
Choosing the right rookie to bide his time behind a proven commodity is how the Giants finally find long-term answers at football’s most important position.
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