Former No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston made the surprising move to take a pay cut to stay with the New Orleans Saints, where he will likely back up Derek Carr. Despite this, he seemingly still believes that he can be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Winston had an injury-riddled season last year with the Saints, which ultimately led to veteran quarterback Andy Dalton taking the starting job for most of the season in New Orleans.
Now Carr is in the picture, which means that it will likely take an injury to get another shot as the team’s starting quarterback. Despite this, Winston spoke with the media on Tuesday where he was optimistic that he will still get another long-term starting gig in the NFL.
“The main thing is the opportunity, and I’m just grateful every chance I get an opportunity to step into a building and play a sport I love,” Winston said via ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. “However, I know that I’m still a starting quarterback in this league. There’s some Hall of Famers that made their big break at 30. So I’m still young, I’m still 29, but right now my role is to serve this team in the role that I’m in. And I’m all-in to doing that.
While it is certainly commendable to be a team player for the Saints, some thought that Winston may opt to test out the free agent waters this offseason and sign with a QB-needy team. He will instead wait for whenever his next opportunity to prove himself in the NFL will come.
[ESPN]