QUARTERBACK QUARRELS

March 20

An era is ending in New Orleans, and the Saints look ahead to who can fill the Brees-shaped hole in their hearts.

Drew Brees announced his retirement on Sunday after leading the franchise for 15 years and becoming one of the most decorated players in Saints history. The big question now is: Who will take over the starting spot?

On Monday, the Saints re-signed quarterback Jameis Winston to a one-year deal with a base salary of $5.5 million and up to $7 million in incentives.

Additionally, the Saints announced a 4-year and $140 million extension to Taysom Hill’s contract just in time to beat the start of free agency. Both Winston and Hill’s contracts include voidable years in an effort to create salary-cap room as the Saints get dangerously close to the limit for 2021.

It seems like an eternity ago that Winston, 27, was selected as the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Since his rookie season, Winston’s success has fluctuated tremendously. Winston started off strong with back-to-back 4,000-yard passing seasons (4,042 and 4,009) before hitting some career lows over the next two years. At the time of his release from the Bucs in 2019, Winston led the league in both passing yards (5,109) and interceptions (33).

Winston’s first season with the Saints was spent behind Brees. He didn’t see much time on the field, going 7-of-11 for 75 touchdown-less yards in the regular season.

Despite not getting much action in 2020, he continues to be one of the most aggressive and impressive quarterbacks in the NFL under pressure and on the run over the last five seasons.

Hopefully all that time on the sidelines was spent observing and learning from Brees, otherwise, Winston might find himself on the bench once again because tight end-turned-quarterback Hill is looking to get in on the action.

Since 2017, Hill, 31, has undoubtedly proved to be a multifaceted and valuable offensive weapon for the Saints. He was able to showcase his talents as a quarterback when he stepped in for an injured Brees last season — winning three of the four games he started.

Through four games, Hill saw a 72.7% completion rate for 928 yards, 4 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions. He has also pulled in 809 rushing yards, 30 receptions for 336 yards, and 18 touchdowns over the last three seasons.

Sean Payton has continually highlighted Hill’s desirability and praised his athleticism and ability to elevate the Saints to a different level on the field, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the man for this job.

This is the first time in over two decades that the starting QB position is up for grabs in New Orleans, and Sean Payton anticipates a healthy competition between the two.

“There will be a few calls we make, but our goal coming into this offseason was to obviously re-sign Jameis,” he says. “Taysom played for us in four games last year. And let those guys go to work, and I’m excited about it. I’m excited about those two. Now, there are a few things that may still be out there, but I see those two competing for the position.”

“We’ve already had a chance to see both of them to some degree,” Payton says. “I think last year was important for us, relative to Jameis. We had had Taysom in the building, but it gave us a year to evaluate [Jameis] and it also gave him a year to evaluate us.”

It seems the upside of Winston as the full-time starter is simply more feasible, as Shannon Sharpe points out on “Undisputed”. Sharpe claims that it’s hard to see a scenario where Hill beats out Winston for the starting job.

“Jameis is a better quarterback,” he says. “Not to say Taysom Hill is not a good player. He’s a very good player in a specific role, and I believe that role is to keep using him as [The Saints] are using him. … He got a month to be the every-down quarterback. It didn’t go well.”

Best case scenario, Winston comes back rejuvenated and proves he has learned how to avoid turnovers, or, if Hill gets the starting gig, the lack of experience doesn’t faze him.

Eventually, the Saints will have to come up with a long-term replacement for Brees, but for now, the starring role is up in the air.