Big Blue View
Coud Winston be the answer for the Giants?
The New York Giants are in the quarterback market, and few available signal callers are as interesting as Jameis Winston. The career of the No. 1 overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft is volatile, consistent with his interesting play style. He possesses a combination of reckless gun-slinger with flashes of elite quarterback play.
From afar, Winston has been a very enjoyable quarterback to watch, whether it’s eating dubs, throwing touchdowns, or making asinine mistakes. The 31-year-old threw for 2,121 yards with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions over nine appearances in 2024.
Winston had a yards per attempt of 7.2, which ranked in the top 20. His Big Time Throw rate was 3.8%, just ahead of Drake Maye and Bo Nix but just behind Caleb Williams and Jalen Hurts. To no surprise, Winston did lead the league in Turnover Worthy Play rate at 5.2%, just ahead of Drew Lock at 5.1%.
One thing that is consistent with Winston is his aDot — average depth of target. He is not scared, nor shy, to let it rip and look for the big explosive play. Winston ranked third in the NFL behind Anthony Richardson and Trevor Lawrence in aDot at 9.7 yards. Winston also ranked seventh in the league in pressure-to-sack ratio (23.3%).
Winston had 20 explosive passes and exceeded 300 yards in three of his seven starts (BLT, NO, DEN). Winston’s Big Time Throw rate was his lowest since 2019; he’s typically north of the five-and-a-half-percent number, placing him with Sam Darnold, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow in 2024.
However, Winston’s turnover-worthy play rate is also usually over five percent; this ranks among the highest in the league every year, consistent with the enigma that is Jameis Winston’s play. Still, the flashes of elite processing and manipulation are on tape, and we’ll start there.
A quarterback must use every advantage imaginable to elevate offensive success. This can be done in a variety of ways: elite timing, improvisation, etc. or it can be done through eye manipulation to leave windows ajar around confined areas of the field.
On third-and-10 against the Broncos, Winston held Levi Wallace (39) outside the numbers with his eyes, which allowed him to flip his hips inward and fire a strike to Michael Woods II (81).
Denver went into Cover-2, and Winston’s helmet and hips were looking at Elijah Moore (8) with Wallace playing inside-out, eyes inward. With excellent timing, Winston waited until Woods II worked into the blindspot of the overhang defender, forcing that defender to step toward the hash; once that was confirmed, Winston fluidly connected with Woods II with a peripheral connection. This is a trait that Winston will showcase; he has a wide lens and will manipulate defenders in zone:
Watch the stripe of Winston’s helmet as Denzel Perryman (6) flipped his hips inward. Winston kept his helmet oriented between the hashes and slightly adjusted his base after he reached the top...
