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There’s no other way to describe Jameis Winston’s new agreement with the New Orleans Saints than as a prove-it deal, bringing him back for 2021 to compete with Taysom Hill in training camp; that’s a battle he should win handily, given his greater starting experience and Hill’s uninspiring four-game cameo in 2020.
But one of his peers — an old rival, in fact — signed a team-friendly contract extension, too. Cam Newton and the New England Patriots agreed to terms on a one-year deal, putting him in the driver’s seat to start in 2021. But how do the contracts compare?
Winston received $5.5 million in guarantees, including his 2021 salary and a $4.5 million signing bonus. Newton agreed to lower guarantees ($3.5 million, $2 million of which came in a signing bonus) but more incentives. If he wins the starting job and plays well, taking New England all the way to a Super Bowl win, Newton can earn an additional $8.5 million. The specifics of Winston’s incentives are less clear right now, but they total at $7 million. So Newton was guaranteed less with more opportunities to earn bonuses.
The two deals are structured differently, too. Newton’s is a simple one-year extension that makes him a free agent in 2022 without leaving any dead money on the books. Winston’s is more typical of what the Saints have used before, including two voidable years in 2022 and 2023 for salary cap accounting purposes.
He would be a free agent next year just like Newton at the expiration of his contract, but his departure leaves $3 million in dead money for New Orleans to toss onto the burn pile out back (which includes $11.5 million following Drew Brees’ retirement). The benefit for structuring Winston’s contract like that is lowering his 2021 cap hit to just $2.5 million, compared to a $5.4 million hit for Newton.
That’s a far cry from where these two former first overall draft picks were expected to go in their NFL careers, but there are worse situations to be in. Many quarterbacks around the league would probably like to be working with Sean Payton and Bill Belichick on two of the NFL’s most talented rosters, though maybe not on these salaries.
Ironically, if both Winston and Newton win their respective starting gigs, they’ll be in for a rematch at Gillette Stadium in 2021. They faced each other head to head in seven past NFC South matchups times, with Winston’s Buccaneers going 3-4 against Newton’s Panthers. Maybe he can earn some payback with the Saints.