The NFL's regular season is over, which for most teams, means it's time to start figuring out plans for the offseason.



NFL free agency is a huge part of the process, and along with the NFL Draft, it has everyone preparing for what should be a very active couple of months.

We've officially come up with our own contract projections for the NFL's top free agents that include context behind each player's 2023 season, the likelihood of a franchise tag, the projection itself, and the first-year cap hit for a team that's “all-in” and is needing to reduce that first-year hit in order to maximize their cap dollars.

So, without further ado, let's check out the projection for New Orleans Saints quarterback, Jameis Winston.

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Jameis Winston 2024 Contract Projection

Jameis Winston is in an interesting situation with the Saints, as the amount of restructured money pushed into future seasons means it’ll cost the Saints more to let him walk than it would to re-sign him to a similar deal he took last year.

If they can get a new one-year deal signed before the league new year, he could immediately save the Saints approximately $5 million in cap space by preventing the $7,301,000 restructured bonuses allocated to 2025-2027 from accelerating to 2023’s budget sheet.

This gives him a certain amount of leverage in negotiations against the Saints. Winston could opt to seek a starting opportunity elsewhere, but after choosing to take a pay cut to stay in New Orleans as Derek Carr’s backup in 2023, Winston might be content making decent backup money and being on-call for the Saints should Carr stumble or succumb to injury.

• Franchise Tag Likelihood: None
• Projected Contract: 1 Year, $4M, $4M APY, $4M GTD
• Year One Cap Hit: $5,367,000 to Saints, $2.5M elsewhere

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Be sure to check back in and around the site for more projections, as we will add more in the coming days and weeks.

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