The Cincinnati Bengals felt Joe Flacco was the better option to fill in their starting quarterback role as Jake Browning proved to not be the answer. In turning to 40-year-old Flacco, that leaves the question: What’s next for Jameis Winston? He seemed like the most obvious choice to trade for with the way that offense is set up.
The New York Giants probably won’t play him this season so it just makes too much sense to trade him before the deadline in a month. There’s at least three teams that should at least be interested in trading for Winston now that the Bengals made their move. Here’s the next best trade suitors for Winston.
Cleveland Browns
Dillion Gabriel proved to be serviceable, but the Cleveland Browns are hesitant to unleash Shedeur Sanders. That could either be because they are patient or they truly don’t believe in him like we all thought they did. If the latter is true, they need to start looking at realistic back up options if Gabriel either gets hurt or starts to regress.
Getting Winston again makes sense because he provided a spark for a team that needed any semblance of hope after last season went awry rather quickly. His experience would go a long way with a quarterback room full of rookies. It makes too much sense not to trade for him. It would cost nothing more than a late draft pick anyway.
You’re not trading for Winston because you need him to win you some games, you trade for him because his veteran presence is more valuable than his on-field presence, and that’s what this quarterback room needs more than anything right now.
Miami Dolphins
Tua Tagovailoa isn’t it at all and I don’t think his best replacement is currently on the roster either. But Winston could, if nothing more, save Mike McDaniel from getting fired after this season. The Dolphins have had quarterback issues really since they drafted Tagovailoa. Early on in his career, it was injury issues. Now it’s simply him not playing well.
Miami is in a weird situation where they shouldn’t be selling, but they really aren’t in the position to give up draft capital to build a winning roster. Their only win of the season is against the New York Jets and that tells you everything you need to know about how things are going for Miami in 2025.
New York Jets
Justin Fields isn’t it and apparently the only person that didn’t see this coming was Aaron Glenn. Glenn doubled down on his belief in Fields in not drafting or trading for his replacement this offseason. Fields isn’t necessarily costing the Jets games, but he’s not playing well enough to win them and that’s a problem.
Glenn needs to make a quarterback change and the only option left is to tap the Giants for their emergency option and let him find ways to win games. This team is truly a quarterback away and maybe a change could get the most out of this offense before things get worse than they already are.
New Orleans Saints
What do the New Orleans Saints have to lose in bringing Jameis Winston back into the fold? The Spencer Rattler experiment has dragged on far too long and the fact that Tyler Shough hasn’t replaced him yet all but confirms the Saints made a mistake in drafting him. Winston is the perfect bridge quarterback for them while they anxiously wait for their future franchise quarterback.
The Saints have far bigger problems than their quarterback, but they certainly need help in that area. What Winston can provide is being the player that can raise morale because this team looks defeated. Sure they got their first win of the season, but that won’t happen too many more times and one thing Jameis Winston can do is make losing not feel too bad.
Las Vegas Raiders
If Pete Carroll wants to be coaching in Las Vegas next season, he needs to make a quarterback change like now. Geno Smith has a league-high nine interceptions in five games and this team is clearly far from what they’d thought they would be this year. They’re more than a quarterback away from contending in the AFC West, but the quarterback situation was not supposed to be one of their concerns in 2025.
Winston won’t save this season, but at least it could buy Carroll some time while he figures out if he can rely on Smith in the long term. If the Raiders wanted terrible quarterback play, they could have paid Winston for a fraction of what they’re paying Smith.