Jameis Winston Signs 2 year deal with the New York Giants

The New York Giants have signed Jameis Winston to a two year $8 million dollar deal with the New York Giants, marking Winston’s return to the NFC since his days as a backup to Drew Brees and Derek Carr in New Orleans and more famously, his days as the starting Quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Winston played only played 7 games as the backup to Deshawn Watson in Cleveland. After Watson went down with a season ending injury, Winston took over and led the Browns to a 2-5 record where he threw for 2121 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

With Winston under center, Cleveland’s offense looked noticeably better in comparison to under Deshawn Watson. As an example, the Browns didn’t score over 20 points with Watson at QB once this season and with Winston, they scored over 20 points 3 times including a 29-24 upset win over the division champion Baltimore Ravens in Week 8. That said, Cleveland’s offense was the worst in the NFL with Winston and Watson combining for a dismal 19 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.

New York is hoping they can get whatever the 31 year old Winston has left in the tank with a younger supporting cast of weapons in star rookie receiver Malik Nabers, rookie running back Tyrone Tracy and the 23 year old receiver Wan’Dale Robinson. The Giants are coming off their own QB woes with Daniel Jones, Tommy Devito and Drew Lock failing to produce any effective offense. Though they got no favors from an offensive line that allowed 48 sacks and lacks playmakers other than Andrew Thomas who only played 6 games.

The defensive side of the ball is far more intriguing for Giants fans with Brian Burns, Azeez Ojulari, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux forming a formidable pass rush and young DBs Cordale Flott, Dane Belton and Andru Philips showing some potential.

The simple advantage of acquiring Watson is that the Giants will no longer have the pressure to select a QB in the first round with Tennessee and Cleveland likely taking either Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders. New York while young, and possessing some rising stars, is a team that doesn’t have the talent to compete with the NFC East’s premier teams in Philadelphia and Washington let alone the rest of NFC.

Getting more talent is the first step in what will be a rebuild for Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen and while a QB is certainly still in the cards for this team. It may end up being in the second round or even third round as the Giants may look to strengthen other parts of the team, especially the offensive line and defense

For Cleveland, the move only increases the likelihood of taking a Quarterback in the first round. Deshawn Watson has utterly failed in Cleveland and Winston couldn’t right the sinking ship that was the Cleveland offense. This was only made worse by seeing former franchise star Baker Mayfield rebuild his career in Tampa Bay where he will continue to lead a team consistently competing for division titles.

Taking a quarterback, whether its Ward or Sanders, will signal the much needed change in Cleveland as they try to get back into the playoffs.