Browns sign Jameis WInston

     The Cleveland Browns made sure that they had a veteran alternative at quarterback to DeShaun Watson going into 2024 but it wasn't the player that their fan base preferred as the Brown signed former top overall pick Jameis Winston from the New Orleans Saints to a one year contract worth up to 8.7 million dollars.

The decision to sign Jameis Winston means that the Browns will not re-sign Joe Flacco, which ends the veteran's miracle run in Cleveland that saved the 2023 season and allowed the Browns to reach the playoffs.

Winston was the first player selected in the 2015 draft from Florida State by Tampa Bay and spent five seasons in Tampa before moving to the Saints for four seasons, making ten starts over that time.

Winston played in seven games for New Orleans last season, throwing two touchdowns and being intercepted three times with 264 yards passing backing up Derek Carr for the Saints.

Over his career, Winston has thrown 141 touchdowns and 99 interceptions, thirty of those interceptions in his final season with Tampa Bay, when he also threw his career high in touchdown passes with thirty-three.

At 6'4, 235 pounds, and a booming arm, Winston has all the skills and can make all the throws but he has been prone to the interception at the wrong time as the bugaboo for his career.

Winston turned thirty in January, so he's still not an old player and what I like about the signing is that Winston reminds me a lot of Joe Flacco- big in stature, power arm, but not the most mobile quarterback at this stage of their career, and needs solid protection in the pocket.

And one more- Winston is not Joe Flacco.

Cleveland fell in love with an aging quarterback who spent most of his career playing for a rival as he saved a season that seemed to be yet another Browns season going down the drain.

That's a good thing and created a slot for Joe Flacco in Browns lore which will never be forgotten.

However, each season creates a new story and DeShaun Watson is going to be a major, if not THE major story of next season I can understand why the Browns wouldn't want a situation where Watson struggles a bit, and here comes the chants for Joe Flacco.

While I can understand those reasons, it does seem a little (just a little) ungrateful to not allow a player who did so much and seemed to want to return the opportunity to do so.

The Browns can deny the Flacco fans were a factor and while it might not have been the biggest factor, it had to be in play for an organization that knows that their fan base is still divided over DeShaun Watson.

I'm fine with Jameis Winston, it makes sense and I understand why but there is a part of me that believes in sentiment and wants to see Joe Flacco in Cleveland.

Football is not a business for sentiment.

Back later with more Browns additions and subtractions.