Jameis Winston’s best free agency option might be returning to the Buccaneers
By Josh Hill
Jameis Winston’s best potential landing spot might be where he wore out his welcome — in Tampa Bay.
Where will Jameis Winston play in 2020?
It’s a question that has been altered after the first week of free agency. Where it looked like Winston might find a new home to start, it’s appearing more and more likely that he’s going to have to settle for the best spot for his future beyond this upcoming season.
As crazy as it sounds, could that be in Tampa Bay?
Peter King reported on Monday that the Buccaneers entered the offseason with three quarterbacks on their list: Tom Brady, Teddy Bridgewater, and Jameis Winston.
Jameis Winston?
Despite everything that happened this past season — and the seasons prior — the Bucs weren’t closing the door on Winston coming back to Tampa.
And they still shouldn’t.
As the free agency dust settles, Winston remains on the market and that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. A recent report quoted an anonymous general manager stating Winston’s market is “ice cold” and everything from his turnover tendencies to the COVID-19 pandemic preventing him from working out for teams isn’t helping his cause.
Perhaps the most important revelation is that Winston is highly unlikely to land a starting job in 2020. New England, the only team with an opening, was a longshot to begin with and just signed Brian Hoyer. Everywhere else Winston was connected to either has a starter or has a plan. Chicago traded for Nick Foles, Vegas signed Marcus Mariota, and teams like the Colts, Bengals, and Dolphins all have stopgap quarterbacks in place keep the seat warm for rookies drafted this April.
What truly damned Winston was the Panthers signing Teddy Bridgewater thus allowing Cam Newton to market correct Winston’s value to any team looking for a quarterback. He’s now head-to-head with Cam in the eyes of teams that need a quarterback and that’s a losing battle ten times out of ten.
Could this game of free agency musical chairs inexplicably end where it all started — in Tampa Bay?
Winston’s best bet is to think about 2021, and put himself in the best possible situation to make himself look attractive as a starter in the meantime. That could be, as many have suggested, in a Ryan Tannehill situation where he sits behind a shaky starter who presents an otherwise unforeseen redemption arc. But where could that be: Pittsburgh makes sense, Washington is risky, and Chicago’s redemption arc is Mitchell Trubisky’s to screw up. Beyond that there aren’t many options.
If he’s going to sit behind a quarterback and absorb some gleam, Tampa seems oddly logical. He knows the system, has support in the building (albeit aggressively dwindling) and would learn from Tom Brady. As much as we wax poetic about Bill Belichick’s coaching tree, the line of quarterbacks to work with Brady before moving on to have some sort of success is much stronger.
Matt Cassel, Brian Hoyer, Jacoby Brissett, Jimmy Garoppolo.
How much of that is Brady and how much is the system is the core question that will be solved by this divorce, but Winston picking Brady over Belichick could prove more beneficial to his long term success. He could see how one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time interprets an offense he spent last year trying to prove himself in, which from the jump would show teams in 2021 that he’s not the Jameis of old — at least not in his approach.
This is all, of course, assuming Winston would even be open to reuniting with the Bucs. He posted a farewell message lace with a barb at the team for giving up on him, which seemed to be him closing the door if not vice versa. His days in Tampa are likely behind him, and on a long enough timeline someone will take a flier on him.
But should his unemployment last deep into the summer, returning to Tampa and investing in his future by working with Brady and Arians might become a more attractive option — if not potentially his only one.