The dawn of the Tom Brady era means the sun has set on Jameis Winston’s time in Tampa Bay. The 2015 number one overall pick failed to return the Bucs to the postseason in his five years under center. A 7-9 finish to 2019 sealed his fate and opened the door for the Bucs to go after Brady in free agency.
While Brady is ‘excited, humble and hungry’ to get started in Tampa Bay, Winston is still looking for a job nearly two weeks into free agency. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Winston, who may ultimately have to settle for a backup gig in 2020. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk offers another team for Winston, however — the New England Patriots.
Per Florio (via NESN):
“I mean, Brian Hoyer, Jarrett Stidham. The longer Bill Belichick is looking at that as his depth chart and reminds himself 5,100 passing yards for Jameis Winston last year. I mean, if anybody can break Jameis Winston out of the, ‘What the hell were you just doing?’ mindset, it’s gonna be Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels. So, that’s attractive to me.”
Winston’s 30 interceptions last season tend to overshadow the fact that he put up over 5,000 passing yards, becoming just the eighth quarterback in league history to accomplish that feat. Belichick turned Matt Cassel into a solid quarterback in 2008 when Brady missed the season after suffering a torn ACL in the opener. Cassel guided the Pats to a record of 11-5, though they surprisingly missed the playoffs.
Belichick has made a name for himself out of reviving the careers of guys other teams gave up on. Winston would be the ultimate revitalization project for him.
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