The New Orleans Saints will once again be led by quarterback Drew Brees, who decided against retirement to return to New Orleans on a two-year, $50 million deal.
The Saints are also insistent that they have their quarterback of the future already on the roster in the form of 29-year-old Taysom Hill, who they signed to a two-year, $21 million extension (with $16 million due at signing) on Sunday to show their commitment to him.
Compensation update: Taysom Hill’s two-year extension with the Saints is worth $21 million, including $16 million fully guaranteed at signing, plus $1 million more in performance incentives, per source. So it really is a one-year, $16.3M extension.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 26, 2020
Not only have they now committed $71 million to those two quarterbacks for the next two seasons, it’s also been widely reported on Sunday morning that Jameis Winston will be joining their quarterback room on a one-year deal to take over Teddy Bridgewater’s role as the nominal backup to Brees.
Sources tell Yahoo Sports the #Saints are finalizing a 1-year deal with free agent QB Jameis Winston. New Orleans hopes to continue maximizing Taysom Hill's versatility on gameday while mitigating some risk in exposing Drew Brees' backup to injury.
Story: https://t.co/srblaQWfhI pic.twitter.com/D2jNWL2446
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) April 26, 2020
By doing a 1-year deal with the Saints, Jameis Winston would get to learn and be around Sean Payton, Drew Brees and others. He would fill the role that Teddy Bridgewater did in last season before he left for Carolina. With no other staring jobs, it would be an ideal landing spot.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 26, 2020
The #Saints are expected to sign FA QB Jameis Winston to a 1-year deal, as @CharlesRobinson said, as the former No. 1 overall pick is taking a less lucrative contract to learn from coach Sean Payton & Drew Brees.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 26, 2020
It’s interesting that Sean Payton and company insist that Hill is the future, but in possible absences of Brees, they insist on having a different quarterback playing backup. As Charles Robinson of Yahoo notes, the idea is to mitigate the issues caused by possible injury to Hill, who plays all over the field (and on special teams) and as such has a higher injury risk than any other backup in the league. It also allows them to keep him in that role, even when Brees is out, although it certainly raises questions about how they plan to use Hill once Brees does retire if they aren’t giving the heir apparent regular snaps in a situation where Brees is hurt.
In any case, the Saints are investing heavily in this year’s quarterback room and it will be interesting to see if Jameis can use this opportunity to grow as a player and parlay some time in New Orleans into another starting job in the future, a la Bridgewater.
