Things started great for the New Orleans Saints in 2021. The Saints won five of their first seven games and entered the turn in complete control of their destiny. Then, an injury to Jameis Winston forced New Orleans to call an audible midseason, and they never recovered. The NFC South contenders lost five of their next nine games, falling out of the playoff picture on the misfortune of a tiebreaker.
With nearly a full year to recover from the torn ACL, Winston is back in the saddle and ready to lead the Saints into the 2022 season. They enter the year with +4000 NFL odds to win the Super Bowl.
Famous Jameis
Arriving in the NFL as a first overall selection comes with the belief that you will turn the fortunes of a franchise around. Although Winston was effective at times throughout his tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he failed to deliver the game-changing results that were expected. Winston famously joined the 30-30 club in his last year with the Bucs, throwing 33 touchdowns against 30 interceptions.
Understanding his limitations, the Saints built their offense around Winston's strengths, which paid off early last year. Winston's pass attempts per game nosedived to 23, from a career-high of 39.1 with the Bucs in 2019. As expected, his yards per game got cut in half, going from 319.3 to 167.1. However, his yards per catch were mostly unaffected, but his interception total plummeted to a career-low 1.9%.