Jameis Winston: 'I'm one of the best quarterbacks to play the game'

Former Bucs QB still isn't lacking for confidence now that he's a backup in New Orleans.

When the 2019 season ended for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a walk-off pick-six in overtime against the Atlanta Falcons, Jameis Winston's 30th interception of the season, many wondered if that would be the last pass he threw as a Buccaneer.

That would prove to be the case, as the Bucs let their all-time leading passer walk this offseason, despite leading the NFL with 5,109 passing yards last year.

After that devastating Week 17 loss, Winston made it clear that his numbers proved him to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league, despite his penchant for turnovers. Now that he's in New Orleans on a one-year deal with the Saints, battling with Taysom Hill for the backup job behind Drew Brees, he's still plenty confident in his track record.

"I know what I'm worth," Winston told Bleacher Report's Ty Dunne. "And I know day in and day out, without publicly coming in and saying it, that historically I'm one of the best quarterbacks to play the game."

Winston has certainly done some historic things in his career, but not all of them are good.

He was the first quarterback in NFL history to start his career with back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons, and he leaves Tampa Bay as the team's all-time leader in every major passing category. Last year, he became just the eighth player in NFL history to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a single season.

Winston has also turned the ball over more than any quarterback in the NFL since he entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Last year's 30 interceptions were 10 more than the next-highest number in the league, and his seven pick-sixes were a single-season NFL record.

Through it all, Winston continues to maintain a balance of confidence and humility as he looks to make a fresh start with the Saints.

"Do I feel like I've earned my stripes? I do," Winston told Dunne. "Do I feel like I'm better than a lot of starting quarterbacks in this league? I do. But God has a plan that I haven't even thought of yet. I have to respect this game first. Respect is earned.

"So if a team believes I'm not good enough to be their starting quarterback, OK, let me earn my way back up. I've done it my whole life. It's not like it's just starting to happen."

It's possible Winston chose New Orleans so he could get a chance to face his former team twice a year, but he's still on just a one-year deal. He could use this season to learn behind a future Hall of Famer in Brees, then look for a clearer path to a starting job (and more money) in free agency again next year.

Either way, Winston clearly isn't letting his past failures have a negative impact on his confidence.