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Saints Going With Winston As Their Week 1 Starter
Jameis Winston has secured his second chance. Winston, 27, will be the New Orleans Saints' starting quarterback in Week 1 when they host the Green Bay Packers, sources have told both ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

It will be Winston's first start since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to move on from him following the 2019 season. And, as ESPN.com's Mike Triplett notes, it will be a chance for the former Heisman Trophy winner and 2015 No. 1 overall draft choice to revive his career after he was derailed by turnovers in Tampa.

Meanwhile, the Saints will be trying to prove they can remain a playoff contender in the wake of Drew Brees' retirement. This will be the first time in 16 years that someone other than Brees has entered the season as New Orleans' starting QB.

"I would love to carry that torch from him," Winston said earlier this year when he got emotional while talking about how much it meant to him to spend last season as Brees' backup. "I would love to be able to provide the excitement and joy and resilience that he provided for this city."

Winston earned this opportunity by outperforming Taysom Hill in the preseason. The two of them split first-team reps equally throughout training camp and the first two exhibition games. But Winston made the decision easier with a dynamic performance in Monday night's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars -- completing 9 of 10 passes for 123 yards and two deep touchdowns to receiver Marquez Callaway.

As NFL.com's Kevin Patra pointed out, Winston showed everything you want from a starter against the Jags: Poise in the pocket, calmness under pressure, and an innate feel for what the defense is trying to accomplish. His second TD pass to Callaway was picture-perfect. Winston read all-out pressure, knew he had his receiver one-on-one, bought time by drifting the pocket and laid a perfect ball towards the pylon as the free rusher got in his face.

Hill, 31, went all-in this offseason to become a full-time starting quarterback after he went 3-1 as a starter last season while filling in for an injured Brees. Hill slimmed down and tailored his offseason workouts to the QB position specifically. And while the 31-year-old showed some flashes under center, his play was up-and-down this preseason.

As Patra notes, Payton didn't call direct run plays for Hill, a clear advantage of his, electing to see what the offense would look like with the BYU product in a standard scheme. Hill made some good throws but didn't show rapport with receivers, struggled versus pressure and was off the mark too often for a full-time starter.

While Hill is an elusive runner, he struggles in the quarterback scramble drill when the pocket breaks down.

It was clear that Payton would have had to run a completely different offense if Hill was named the starter.

With Winston at the helm, the Saints will still be able to offer a dose of Hill here and there as a QB/runner/tight end/receiver. It's role he's handled well over the past three years.

Winston went 28-42 as a starter with the Buccaneers from 2015-2019, completing 61.3 percent of his passes with 19,737 yards, 121 touchdowns and 88 interceptions. He displayed some dynamic highs and lows during that tenure -- especially in 2019 in his first year under coach Bruce Arians. That year, Winston led the league with 5,109 passing yards but also became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 30 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions in the same season.

Turnovers have been Winston's biggest hurdle, with a league-high total of 111 from 2015 to 2019.

But Winston has made decision-making his priority over the past two years. He said that is the No. 1 thing he learned from Brees -- focusing on the right decision on every snap rather than trying to force a big result.

So far, that approach seems to be paying dividends. Interceptions have been rare for Winston over the past four weeks in practice, though he did have one that bounced off the hands of receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey on a slightly underthrown deep ball in the preseason opener.