The New York Giants just paid real money to keep a backup quarterback, and the reasoning is more interesting than the number.
New York agreed to a two-year, $13 million extension with Jameis Winston, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz. The deal keeps Winston in New York through the 2028 season.
That is starter-adjacent money for a player the Giants have no intention of starting.
The Giants are protecting an investment
Jaxson Dart is entering his second season, and the entire direction of the franchise rides on whether he develops. New York has been through this cycle enough times to know that the fastest way to ruin a young quarterback is to surround him with nothing and then panic when he struggles.
Winston is the answer to a specific question: who teaches Dart, and who plays if Dart goes down in Week 4? The Giants view him as the best backup quarterback in football, and more importantly, as a veteran who does not sulk about the job description.
That last part is rarer than it sounds. Plenty of former starters take backup jobs and spend the season quietly campaigning through the media. Winston has done the opposite.
The résumé is a strange one
Winston went No. 1 overall in the 2015 draft. He threw for 5,109 yards in a season. He also threw 30 interceptions that same year, which is why he is on his fourth team and playing his 12th NFL season as a backup.
He joined the Giants last year and appeared in three games, throwing for 567 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. New York lost both of his starts, though the losses were not primarily his doing.
The player has always been the same: capable of throwing a ball nobody else on the roster can throw, and capable of throwing it directly to the other team. At 32, that volatility is survivable in a backup. It was never survivable in a starter.
Is $13 million too much?
For a team with a young quarterback, $6.5 million a year to guarantee competent play behind him is defensible. The Giants have watched seasons evaporate because the QB2 was unplayable. That is a tax worth paying.
The risk is what happens if Dart is not the answer. Then New York has a backup under contract through 2028, a rookie deal expiring, and a quarterback room built around a bridge that does not lead anywhere.
The Giants are betting that will not happen. Winston is the insurance policy on that bet, and insurance is never cheap.
Sources
- https://larrybrownsports.com/football/giants-jameis-winston-contract-extension/769027
- https://x.com/Schultz_Report/status/2096685461775294959
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.