Before free agency got underway earlier this month, Jameis Winston said that he loved playing for the Saints but that he still harbored hopes of being a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Winston did not land a starting job once he hit the open market, but he did land as a backup to a quarterback who has missed a lot of time over the last two years. Suspensions and injuries have limited Deshaun Watson to 12 starts over two seasons with the Browns. Watson is expected to start throwing soon as he continues rehabbing from the right shoulder injury that ended his 2023 season and Winston told reporters on Wednesday that his goal of starting games won’t get in the way of him doing all he can to support Watson.
“The most important thing, I believe, is the relationship between me and Deshaun is in a place where it will continue to grow and flourish,” Winston said, via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “I just admire him as a person and, definitely, as a football player. I look forward to allowing him to lean on me for anything that he needs. And also encouraging him and providing him with different resources that he probably hasn’t gotten from people who have been in the same room as him.”
When Watson was injured last season, the Browns played P.J. Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson before signing Joe Flacco off his couch. Flacco exceeded all expectations by taking the Browns to the playoffs and winning the NFL comeback player of the year award, but the signings of Winston and Tyler Huntley show that the Browns don’t want to scramble again this year in the event Watson remains more of a spectator than a contributor.