This past Sunday was a somber, although expected day for Saints fans.
March 14 marked the fifteen-year anniversary of Drew Brees signing his first contract with the New Orleans Saints, and on this anniversary, he made official that he would not return for the 2021 season.
Brees posted a video to Instagram, which has surpassed 2.5 million views and 750,000 likes, of his four children announcing his retirement from the league after 20 seasons to “spend more time with us.” Brees then went on the TODAY show the following morning to announce his move to the broadcast booth as a game analyst for Notre Dame football games and a studio analyst on Football Night in America during Sunday Night Football on NBC, per USA TODAY.
However, what followed this announcement for the Saints was interesting to say the least. Not even 30 minutes after NBC Sports reported on Brees’ retirement, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Jameis Winston would be the “likely starter” for the Saints. Where things got even crazier is right after this announcement the Saints “signed” QB Tayson Hill to a four-year, $140 million contract extension that Barstool Big Cat best described as a “140 million dollar contract worth 20 million dollars.”
It comes as no surprise that the Saints can be creative when it comes to limbo-ing under the NFL salary cap. Hill’s deal is deceiving at first glance. All years of the contract are voidable and ends up saving the Saints $7.5M against the cap in 2021, per Adam Schefter. But you know who else signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension in 2019? Russell Wilson.
Saints’ fans get ready because the Russell Wilson trade is goi-
But there’s still a chance that they could still make a mov-
Please, just stop talking about Russ.
It might be a little unsettling having Jameis Winston be the potential new leader of this franchise after seeing what his 2019 season with the Buccaneers turned out to be but there is so much potential there. Bruce Arians, Winston’s former head coach, is a “no risk it, no biscuit” style coach that loves to take big shots throughout games. Nick Sitro of Bucs Report did a deep dive into the advanced stats of Jameis Winston that I recommend reading to get further insight into his 2019 season. 
What should be noteworthy of the article is how well Jameis ranked in terms of offensive production, and in addition, Sitro took a more in-depth look at Winston’s 30 interceptions from that year and made the argument that a little over half of those were his fault. The negatives of his game were highlighted, mainly his inaccuracy on throws and overall efficiency. However, there is one major thing Jameis Winston did that I believe will help resolve these issues.
He received LASIK eye surgery after the 2019 season.
“No blurriness, and I think that’s huge,” Winston was quoted following the procedure. “Depth perception has increased tremendously and those are the big things. I didn’t have bad eyes, I just had astigmatism. I had certain things that they had to fix to increase the precision and the sharpness of my vision.”
Winston was known to have nearsightedness. There is a surplus of footage of him squinting up at scoreboard while on the sidelines at games.
“He can’t read the scoreboard, but he can see the guys in front of him, so he’s fine,” Arians said of Winston’s eyesight.
Fixing his eyesight can help alleviate some of the inaccuracy of his game. The fact he was able to throw for over 5000 yards that season with how bad his eyesight may have been is mind blowing. There is so much potential in Winston that given the full reigns of this offense he might become a long-term plan for New Orleans.
He has the arm strength needed to stretch the field, something the Saints have been missing lately, and is a far more mobile quarterback allowing for the extension of plays.
A healthy season of Michael Thomas will benefit whoever is at quarterback after a career low of 40 receptions due to injuries plagued his 2020 season. With Jameis leading the team, Thomas could easily return to All-Pro form, as Mike Evans in 2016 and Chris Godwin in 2019 was able to nab second-team All-Pro honors with a Winston-led offense.
Hopefully the city will be eating Ws along with Winston in 2021 and beyond.