Buccaneers: Could Jameis Winston serve as Tom Brady’s backup?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are expected to sign QB Tom Brady in free-agency, but some analysts still believe Jameis Winston could return to the organization.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a deal in principal to sign QB Tom Brady in NFL free-agency, according to multiple reports.

The Buccaneers made it clear that their top priority was signing Brady in the offseason, and they have seemingly done just that.

If Tampa Bay does close the deal officially with Brady, it’s expected that former Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston will still be testing the open market to see where he may fit for another organization.

Though Winston will obviously be looking, Adam Schefter reported that Winston will likely not have a market as a starting QB and will, instead, likely be a back-up.

ESPN’s Booger McFarland made the point that if there isn’t a starting QB market for Winston, he could elect to stay in Tampa Bay and serve as the back-up.

At this point, I just wouldn’t see that becoming a real option, but stranger things have happened. There are bound to be at least a few NFL organizations who are willing to sign Winston to a one-year deal with their eyes on tanking in 2020, or taking a chance on him getting the interception problems solved.

After all, if he could get the turnovers down, Winston could prove to have a ‘Ryan Tannehill-type’ year where he emerges and solidifies himself with a big contract in the 2021 offseason.

The New England Patriots, for example, could be in prime position to do something like that with Brady out the door.

It’s a nice idea to think about having Winston as the back-up quarterback and him learning under Brady with the potential to get better and lead this organization in the future, but it just doesn’t seem feasible currently. Anything can happen, but that doesn’t seem realistic at least for the time being.