New York Giants free agency: What to like, not like, about QB Jameis Winston

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.

Flashes elite traits

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 of his drop; he then aligned his shoulders and hips as he stepped toward Jerry Jeudy (3) and connected with the receiver for a first down with good placement to Jeudy’s outside. Again, his eyes influence defenders and maximize the play’s success rate.

Winston gathers valuable information on his five-step drop out of shotgun. He saw the leverage of the field cornerback against Moore. The defensive back immediately assumed inside leverage, giving the outside to Moore and forcing Winston to make a far-hash anticipatory throw, which the quarterback did flawlessly.

The still shot above shows Winston rearing back to throw right as Moore decelerates his route. As we’ll see a little later, far-hash velocity throws are frequently attempted by Winston. I love seeing quarterbacks who — at least — attempt and threaten defenses who execute leverages that offer space to the offense. Winston has enough arm talent and gumption to try and steal what the defense gives the offense.

Winston quickly diagnosed the Saints’ Cover-2 rotation; he saw the field cornerback’s presnap alignment: eyes, hips, stance all inward toward the No. 2 and No. 3 receiver, with a pressure look up front. New Orleans bailed, and Winston’s eyes went to middle safety and over to the field cornerback to see his reaction; all of this happened as Winston caught the snap and hit his back foot. The No. 2 wide receiver ran an out, and the field cornerback squatted on his route, giving Winston the confirmation that the honey-hole would be ajar. From the far-hash, Winston delivered a strike to Jeudy before the safety got over the top, and the receiver secured the catch and got down before contact. Another excellent play.

Ball placement

Winston has shown some elite ball placement over the middle of the field and in quick game. He can effectively operate a rhythmic passing attack while also possessing his downfield attacking style; I would argue the latter is more representative of his skill set, but he has shown elite ball placement in quick game and when carving through tight coverage outside the numbers or over the middle of the field.

Here’s a simple three-step drop smash concept to Jeudy that was unfortunately dropped. Winston had to quickly pull the trigger, for the Cover-2 cornerback to the boundary side was sinking, but Winston delivered a perfect pass that hit Jeudy in the hands.

This isn’t quick game, but it’s another flag route, this one on third-and-4, where Winston starts to throw right as the receiver emerges from his break. He puts the football in an elite location, allowing Jeudy to slide and avoid contact.

Here are two slant routes that are magnificently placed away from the defender’s leverage:

The pass below certainly is not quick game but a seven-step drop from under center where Winston used excellent timing to connect with Moore on the curl for a first down. There aren’t many seven-step drops in Brian Daboll’s offense, but this is well executed by the quarterback:

Far-hash velocity

Quarterbacks don’t always have the ability or confidence to try and challenge defenses from the far-hash. We’ve seen a few throws already where Winston displays the courage and ability to threaten defenses in this manner. Here are more:

Winston had to layer this over the underneath defender while focusing on placing it outside of Moore’s frame, away from the Baltimore Raven defender. He did this with drive and touch.

Far-hash throws are more successful when the quarterback can anticipate, and Winston does just that against the Chiefs above. The pass goes incomplete but look at when Winston rears back to throw, and you can be the judge if the wide receiver had enough time to locate and secure this pass:

The receiver isn’t close to getting into his break but the football has quite the distance to travel. There was plenty of time for the receiver to turn around and find the football that was catchable due to the anticipation used by Winston.

Winston had already released the football as Jeudy got into his break against the Pittsburgh Steelers above. The signal-caller does a very good job throwing anticipation outside the numbers, raising the probability of success in one-on-one situations.

Winston rips another outside-the-numbers far-hash throw on a difficult out pattern that goes for a first down on first down. Great ball placement and velocity.

Red zone passing

Winston showcased more of his anticipatory skills in the red zone off play action against the Broncos. The Browns ran David Njoku (85) up the seam with an outside leveraged cornerback, an underneath apex, and a safety in Njoku’s general area. Beautiful quick release, ball away from the safety, and just high enough to clear the underneath apex.

Winston started throwing the pass before Jordan Akins (88) got off his block and to the flat; that route was pivotal to the success of the play, for Akins occupied the apex defender’s attention. The linebacker (apex on this play) had his hips oriented outward toward Akins and Winston earholed him to Njoku for six. Winston does well to find soft-spots between the numbers in zone coverage.

Ball placement is not always consistent with Winston. I saw a lot of overthrows on his tape from 2024, but he certainly can deliver precise placement. He does well on these back-shoulder fades; he quickly went through progressions while simultaneously holding the center-field safety in place before finding David Njoku on a back-shoulder fade for six against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The coverage is tight, but this good throw defeated the quality coverage.

Although this is garbage time against the Cincinnati Bengals, I can’t help but applaud Winston’s ability to give his guy a realistic shot to secure a touchdown in tight coverage; Njoku does just that because the touch, height of the pass, and placement were just far enough away from the defender in tight coverage.

Creativity

Jameis Winston does an excellent job keeping his eyes downfield while extending plays and improvising. It’s one reason why his highlight reel is so exciting, but it also leads to errors and forced mistakes. Still, here are several successful creative plays where Winston found success out of structure:

(Third-and-12)

(Third-and-8)

(First-and-10)

(Third-and-10)

(Third-and-9)

(Second-and-11, close game in fourth quarter)

(First-and-10)

Negatives

You take the good with the bad with Winston. He’s exciting and will throw for 500 yards in a given game and could throw more than 30 touchdowns in a season, but he’ll also throw 30 interceptions and put his defenses in tough spots. Here are some mistakes from this past season:

This was a fourth-and-1 where Winston failed to see the open receiver on the spot route. He panicked, was indecisive, patted the ball, and went for the seven off the smash once the cornerback sank. Here are two other rough mistakes from the 2024 season.

Winston’s deep passing outside the numbers wasn’t bad, but he tended to overthrow (which is preferably to underthrowing the football). According to Pro Football Reference, Winston was among one of the worst quarterbacks in the league when it came to on target percentage — he ranked 40th of 43 quarterbacks.

He also had the 16th-worst bad throw percentage. He flashes elite ball placement but the lack of consistency with it is problematic.

Like most quarterbacks, Winston is significantly worse under pressure. He completed 42.5% of his passes for 440 yards with four picks and three touchdowns under pressure in 2024. His reckless play style is exacerbated when he feels the pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, Winston graded second to last in passing when under pressure (42nd).

Final thoughts

I am a Winston fan, and I’m willing to take the good with the bad and allow this gunslinger to rip in Daboll’s offense. He is far from a perfect product and is now a journeyman quarterback who excites when an opportunity arises but eventually collapses. Still, I’ll take those highs and a potentially explosive offense while allowing Daboll to try and curtail Winston’s mistakes.

Winston signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Cleveland Browns last off-season — one less million than Drew Lock received from the Giants. He’ll earn more, but it would be worth a shot to allow Winston to be the veteran in the quarterback room that will likely consist of a young rookie. It’s the state of the quarterback market, but Winston may be the most exciting bang for your buck quarterback available. Let me know what you think in the comments.