ESPN’s Marcus Spears: Saints still a playoff team with Jameis Winston at QB
How confident are you that Jameis Winston can lead the New Orleans Saints back to the playoffs — assuming he even defeats Taysom Hill for the starting quarterback job in training camp?
ESPN’s Marcus Spears is one national analyst putting his faith in the former first overall draft pick, telling the Spun’s Chris Rosvoglou, “I expect the Saints to make the playoffs, and I expect him not to turn the ball over a lot.”
That’s been the top flaw for Winston throughout his career, even going back to his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at Florida State. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill has shared a lot of clarifying context into Winston’s staggering interceptions (88) and fumbles totals (50), but at the end of the day he’s still been too careless with the football.
Spears expects Winston to flourish in a better situation than where he started with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, adding: “He just needed to digest the game without having to play it. When you get taken first overall and have to play right away, you’re learning on the fly and never get to sit back and learn the game the right way.”
It’s a compelling argument. Instead of diving in headfirst, Winston has had a year to observe Drew Brees play the game at the highest level. He’s had time to work on his mechanics and learn from one of the best to ever do it. And he’s not working to flip a team that performed badly enough to earn the top overall draft pick and select him into a contender — as Spears pointed out, the Saints have a roster that’s strong enough to compete each week, despite the salary cap casualties and free agent losses they took this offseason.
All Winston has to do is avoid doing too much. Well, that’s all he’ll have to do in the fall. Before we get there, he’s got to focus on proving to the coaches why he’s a better option to start than Hill or any other quarterback on their roster.
