During the short time that Tom Brady was retired, there was much speculation on if Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans would be seeing Jameis Winston again. Even though Brady is back, it turns out Buccaneers fans will be seeing Jameis again, at least twice next season at least.
In perhaps the most under-the-radar saddling of the 2022 quarterback carousel, the Buccaneers’ most hated division rival New Orleans Saints have decided to bring back the man the Bucs made the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft in Winston.
Saints re-signing QB Jameis Winston to 2-year, $28 million deal. (via @TomPelissero) pic.twitter.com/pUxN9BkKuN
— NFL (@NFL) March 21, 2022
With this move, coupled with the Matt Ryan trade, the Saints all of a sudden have the second-best quarterback in the NFC South. Fortunately, the gap between one and two is colossal. Bucs fans shouldn’t sweat too much as they once again have Brady taking snaps.
Granted, Jameis had the Saints at 5-2 and was looking GREAT against his former team before his season was ended on a Devin White tackle the first time the two teams met on Haloween this past season. It’s also true that the Saints swept the Bucs in the regular season. However, they did the same in 2020, and look how that turned out.
The other big thing to consider is that the Saints will be without Sean Payton going forward. The defensive-minded Dennis Allen will be his replacement, and it remains to be seen just how Winston will perform under these circumstances, even if his play has improved after his eyes improved via LASIK.
At the end of the day, the return of Tom Brady meant that a select group of Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans could finally let go of the semi-weird pipedream of Jameis Winston returning to play in Raymond James Stadium. As fate would have it, their wishes were somewhat granted as he will more likely than not play in at least one more game there, just as a member of the New Orleans Saints. #ThisLeague indeed.