Saints’ QB Jameis Winston, who tore his ACL on Halloween and reached agreement yesterday on a two-year deal with New Orleans, is expected to be ready for training camp this summer “if everything continues to go smoothly with his rehab”, per league source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 22, 2022
Here’s some good news: Jameis Winston is said to be recovering well from his midseason knee injury, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting Tuesday that the quarterback expects to be cleared to participate in New Orleans Saints training camp later this summer. On Monday, Winston reached an agreement with the team on a two-year contract after he spent a week courting offers in free agency. Having him ready to get starter’s reps in training camp is huge.
But there’s the bad news. Winston is still actively rehabilitating his surgically-repaired knee, which suffered a torn ACL and damaged MCL on Oct. 31, 2021. He’s been recovering in Birmingham, Ala. and likely won’t be able to meet up with teammates for throwing sessions in April like he did last year. We shouldn’t expect him to participate much in organized team activities and minicamps in May and June, either. That’s a lot of time he’ll miss that could be spent getting up to speed with Michael Thomas and his other weapons. But it’s part of the process, and the team needs to prepare for it.
At least Winston already knows the system. The offense is the same, even if Pete Carmichael is calling plays now instead of Sean Payton. Winston knows the verbiage and the go-to concepts and everything he’ll need to run it successfully. Hopefully his health continues to improve and he can hit the ground running when the Saints open training camp in late July.
