Jameis Winston restructures final year of contract to stay with New Orleans Saints

Former Florida State star and Heisman winner Jameis Winston has been juggling a lot of different things over the last couple of days. He was back in Tallahassee over the weekend to attend Seminole Legacy Weekend which included Winston throwing out the first pitch at the baseball game on Friday night and speaking at Jermaine Johnson's All-American Brick Ceremony.

Outside of that, Winston has also been working on securing his future in the NFL. Over the weekend, reports surfaced that the New Orleans Saints were planning to release him if the two parties couldn't come to an agreement on restructuring his deal.

It appears that there was mutual interest from both sides in keeping Winston in black and gold for another season.

On Monday, news broke that Winston was restructuring the final year of his contract to stay with the Saints. He'll be on a one-year/$4 million deal that includes incentives to get the deal to $8 million. This comes after Winston originally signed a two-year/$28 million deal with the franchise last year.

Breaking: Jameis Winston is finalizing a deal to return to the Saints, he told CBS Sports.

The deal is for one year and $4M with incentives bringing the value to up to $8M, sources told @AdamSchefter. pic.twitter.com/j7TS5jtGdg
— ESPN (@espn) March 14, 2023

The Saints didn't have any other choice but to make this move after they inked veteran quarterback Derek Carr to a four-year/$150 million contract last week. That means Winston will probably be entering training camp as the primary backup to Carr, effectively limiting his chances to be a starter in 2023.

The Alabama native dealt with a variety of injuries that he tried to play through last season, including fractures in his back. Regardless, Winston guided the Saints to a 16-point comeback victory in week 1, the largest in franchise history. He completed 63.5% of his passes for 858 yards with four touchdowns to five interceptions in three games before the Saints benched him in favor of Andy Dalton.

It's important to note that Winston has two young children that have been growing up in New Orleans over the last couple of years. That likely factored into his decision to stay in the area instead of pursuing an open starting job elsewhere.

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