By Jason La Canfora | CBS Sports
There were myriad reasons why I assumed Saints coach Sean Payton signed Jameis Winston as a back-up quarterback for 2020. Winston only recently turned 26 years old. He is a former Heisman Trophy winner. He led the NFL in passing yards in 2019, and was second in touchdown passes to MVP Lamar Jackson. Winston badly wanted to spend the season with Payton, a QB maestro who helped revive Teddy Bridgewater's career. Oh, and at $1M for one season, the price is right.
There was also another ancillary part of the Saints evaluation that I had never pondered, however. Something that had never crossed my mind but that was among the factors Payton weighed this spring in deciding whether to sign Winston, who had spent the first five years of his career with NFC South rival Tampa after being the first overall pick in 2015. ...
"You say, 'Well, throw Winston into this draft - because we can all remember him coming out and I was there at his Pro Day and sat right literally five yards behind him as he threw 80-some, 90-some passes," Payton said on my radio show, Inside Access on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore. "How would he grade? And I think he'd fare extremely well in this class, and a number of classes, enough to where someone thought that much of him that they selected him with the first pick in the draft. ..
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