Saints avoid disaster with Jameis Winston injury in practice

Jameis Winston had to leave practice with an injury on Monday but it looks like the Saints have avoided a major problem for the quarterback.

NFL training camps are an exciting time for coaches, players and fans. Optimism is high as can be as teams take the practice field with so much ahead of them during the season.

But an NFL practice field is also a dangerous place at times and every day brings the new possibility of a serious injury derailing a team’s plans.

On Monday, it was the Saints holding their breaths after quarterback Jameis Winston hurt his foot and had to leave practice early.

New Orleans just went all in on Winston after dealing with horrendous injury luck at quarterback last year. An injury now would be a disheartening development.

Jameis Winston injury update: Saints QB escapes major injury

While the team hasn’t given a definitive update, murmurings around the injury were good news for the Saints. Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football tweeted that the injury doesn’t appear to be “anything major.”

That’ll be a relief for Saints fans to hear, though it doesn’t rule out Winston missing some of training camp while he recovers from whatever specifically ails him.

Winston started seven games in 2021, holding a career-high 102.8 passer rating with 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He suffered a season-ending ACL tear, thrusting New Orleans into turmoil at quarterback for the remainder of the season.

He entered free agency but was able to come to a deal to remain with the Saints on a two-year contract in March. He came into training camp as the projected starter for the team, looking to finish what he started last year.

Winston still has to prove he can be a franchise quarterback for New Orleans. His 5-2 record last season was a start. Fortunately, this latest injury scare doesn’t look like it’ll get in the way this time.