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The New Orleans Saints’ offense is going to have a different look for the rest of the 2021 season. That’s because one of their most important players is now done for the year.
Jameis Winston suffered a torn left ACL during the second quarter of the win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The 27-year-old quarterback started New Orleans’ first seven games of the season, but the team will have somebody else under center for the remainder of the campaign.
Once it became known that Winston would be out, fans and analysts alike started thinking of potential replacements. And one question in many minds was: Could the Saints consider signing Cam Newton?
The 32-year-old has been a free agent since getting released by the New England Patriots before the start of the season, and the former NFL MVP has yet to get another opportunity. However, it doesn’t appear New Orleans plans to give him one, either.
On Monday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that the Saints “will not be contacting Cam Newton about joining the team.”
What do the Saints plan to do instead? Well, nothing. Josina Anderson of CBS Sports HQ reported the team will “look to its own QB depth” to fill the void left by Winston. That means New Orleans will likely start either Trevor Siemian, who came in for Winston against the Bucs, or Taysom Hill, who has missed the past two games due to a concussion.
Hill could return for the Week 9 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, but the Saints have liked to use the 31-year-old in a versatile role that involves sporadically lining him up at tight end. If they want to keep doing that, then they could start Siemian, who passed for 159 yards and a touchdown while leading New Orleans to victory against Tampa Bay.
The Saints also have rookie Ian Book, a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, on their roster.
With Hill, Siemian and Book on the team, New Orleans head coach Sean Payton is content with the group that will be relied upon to replace Winston.
“We’re satisfied with the quarterback room,” he said, per Mike Triplett of ESPN.
And for anybody who thought Drew Brees might come out of retirement to take back his old job, don’t expect it. The 42-year-old, who was the Saints’ starting QB from 2006-20, indicated during Sunday night’s NBC broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys-Minnesota Vikings game that he’s happy with his new career as a broadcaster (h/t Patrick Magee of NOLA.com).
As for Newton, he’ll have to keep waiting for a chance to get back onto an NFL roster. He was the Patriots’ starting quarterback in 2020, after spending the previous nine seasons with the Carolina Panthers. And while he didn’t perform as well as he had in the past, he still had a solid year in a new offense.
Even though current Panthers QB Sam Darnold is dealing with a concussion, it doesn’t appear Carolina is considering signing Newton, either. On Monday, head coach Matt Rhule said he was “not going to get into hypotheticals” regarding potential free-agent signings if Darnold is out for an extended period of time, per Darin Gantt of the Panthers’ official site.
For now, Newton will likely remain in the free-agent pool and wait for a team to call.
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