Jameis Winston to N.O (merged - officially signed)

Of course not all accusations of rape are true and we should never automatically believe accusations. The thing is, Florida State had to settle a Title IX lawsuit with one of Winston's female accusers for $950,000; universities don't pay out that kind of money when there's nothing there. Florida State had handled the woman's case so badly that it had to commit to a five-year sexual assault awareness and prevention program. And then Winston paid the woman a settlement in a separate civil suit to prevent the case from going to court. And, of course, there is the Uber incident. And the crab legs incident. And the 30 picks last year with 7 pick-sixes (new NFL record) don't exactly speak to great decision making on the field either. Teddy Bridgewater was an incredible leaders with tremendous character. Jameis Winston not so much.

To be fair, that suit was based on how Florida State handled the accusations, not whether or not the accusations were true.

And yes, there is smoke around Winston and I'm not a big fan of him as a person. And that's only because I don't know that the accusations are true. If I knew they were, I would think he was a piece of garbage.

At the same point, there is no proof that any of it is true and I don't know the guy. But, I do trust that Payton, Loomis, Ireland and the leaders on the team like Davis, Jordan, Malcolm Jenkins, and Brees do know Winston. (And I'm also sure that the NFL and the Saints have had people investigate all the allegations.) So, if they think he is not that guy, or that he may have been, but he has grown up, then I'm okay giving him a one year deal to see how he fits. I mean, no matter what I might think of him personally, he would likely start for several NFL teams right now and that's a really nice think to have sitting on your bench behind your 42 year old HOF QB.