Jameis Winston Wants To ‘Explode’ Drew Brees Style
New Orleans Saints quarterback Jameis Winston has had to come a long way to come close to realising his potential.
He’s not there yet, but he’s inspired and motivated after a season of playing with the now retired Drew Brees.
After winning the Heisman Trophy with Florida State, Jameis Winston was drafted first overall by the Buccaneers in 2015. He’s now 27, though, and his promise was hampered by his failure to iron out the flaws in his game.
Jameis Winston led the league in passing yards in 5,109 in 2019, and is 28-42 as a starter. However, turnovers have been his achilles heel. In the same season, he became the first player in NFL history to throw 30 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions in the same season.
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That’s why he joined the New Orleans Saints as a free agent last year. As he put it, playing with Brees and under the tutelage of Sean Payton was a ‘Harvard education in quarterback school’.
As well as that, Winston has undergone LASIK eye surgery to improve his vision in the hope of eliminating turnovers. He has also started to improve his diet and fitness.
However, none of that is as important as the mentoring he received from Drew Brees and the personnel in the Saints quarterback room.
Winston says he embraces the responsibility of ‘carrying the torch’ from Brees, and is hoping it will propel him to greatness.
“One thing I know about Coach Payton, he enjoys challenges and he enjoys new beginnings,” Winston said.Â
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“And I think he’s looking at this opportunity, kind of like how I view it, is how when he got a young quarterback from San Diego, right? When he got Drew from the Chargers [in 2006] and they exploded together.
“So I know that his arsenal is filled with a lot of things. When you see what he was able to do with Taysom last year, how he completely kind of changed our offense and we had great success. It was incredible just watching a guy work like that, and that’s why I say, it was that room [of Saints coaches and quarterbacks]. It was that entire room creating something to come out as a masterpiece, and that’s what I really loved about Sean and Pete and Taysom and all the guys that were in that room.”
