NFL Week 8: Jameis Winston returns to ‘what the Lord has called me to do’

Jameis Winston made the most recent of his 80 NFL starts on Sept. 25, 2022. On Sunday, the former Hueytown High School baseball and football star will be in the starting lineup again when the Cleveland Browns play the Baltimore Ravens.

“I’m extremely grateful to have yet another opportunity to do what the Lord has called me to do in the NFL, and that’s be a starting NFL quarterback,” Winston said on Wednesday, “so I’m beyond grateful for this, and I am prepared and I will do my very best.”

In the offseason, Winston signed with Cleveland to serve as Deshaun Watson’s backup. In Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Watson sustained a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.

Against Cincinnati, the Browns had Dorian Thompson-Robinson up as the No. 2 QB for the first time this season. He replaced Watson in the game but suffered a finger injury. That put Winston on the field, and he completed three third-down passes and threw for a touchdown in his one series at the helm.

Last season, Cleveland started five quarterbacks, with Watson lasting six games and Thompson-Robinson starting three times before the Browns turned to Joe Flacco. Under the 16-year veteran, Cleveland won four of its final five regular-season games and went to the playoffs. Flacco signed a free-agent deal with the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason.

Winston said he’s not approaching Sunday’s game as a possible career revival.

“I view this as an opportunity to go out there and be my very best,” Winston said, “and when I’m my very best, I’m a great NFL starter.”

The No. 1 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft, Winston went to the Pro Bowl as a rookie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent five seasons as Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback. But after Winston led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards (the 10th most in one season in league history) and 30 interceptions in 2019, the Bucs switched to Tom Brady and won the Super Bowl in 2020.

Winston chose to sign with New Orleans to back up Drew Brees. When Brees retired after the 2020 season, Winston won a quarterback competition with Taysom Hill for the 2021 season.

Winston had 14 touchdown passes and three interceptions with New Orleans at 5-2 when a knee injury ended his first season as the Saints’ starter.

The Saints responded by trying to acquire Watson, who was unhappy in Houston, in the offseason. New Orleans lost that sweepstakes to the Browns and re-signed Winston to a two-year, $28 million contract.

Injuries sent Winston off the field again in 2022, this time after he started the first three games. Back and ankle ailments kept Winston out of uniform for a couple of contests, but when he returned, he didn’t get his job back. The Saints stuck with Andy Dalton at quarterback all the way to the end of a 7-10 season.

In 2023, New Orleans succeeded in its quarterback pursuit – signing Derek Carr after the Las Vegas Raiders released him. That came with an offer to Winston: Take less money to stay on the team in 2023 or be released. Winston chose the former, before leaving New Orleans in free agency in 2024.

“Jameis is a guy who works very hard at this,” Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said when announcing his QB decision on Wednesday. “Has a ton of experience playing this game. Has seen a lot. He prepares really well, so feel good about it.”

Winston said he had become a different quarterback over the course of 10 NFL seasons than he was when he entered the NFL as a former Heisman Trophy winner and BCS national champion at Florida State.

“When I had the opportunity to sit behind Drew Brees and (coach) Sean Payton in 2020 during the year of COVID, then I understood the importance of the process of being an NFL quarterback,” Winston said. “What does it take to beat this specific team? What does it take for a quarterback to make the plays that he should make and to not make the plays that he shouldn’t make? So I think my involvement as a quarterback has been every year, but I believe knowing the plays not to make instead of knowing the plays that I am capable of making.”

Stefanski had another big announcement during his Wednesday press conference: Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey will call the plays on Sunday. Stefanski had handled that duty since he came to Cleveland in 2020.

“We’ve been with Ken since training camp,” Winston said. “His voice has always been in my ear through meeting rooms through even on the field, so I’m excited that he gets another opportunity to go out there and dial up some great plays.”

Winston and Dorsey take the reins of one of NFL’s worst offenses. Cleveland’s average of 253.9 yards per game is the worst in the league, and among the NFL’s 32 teams, the Browns rank 29th in points per game, 28th in rushing yards per game and 30th in passing yards per game.

Winston said he wants the team to “get back to playing Cleveland Browns fun football.”

“What I can do is be decisive, keep everything simple and just do my job,” Winston said. “What we can do as an offense is to be decisive, keep things simple and do our job.”

While the Browns are 1-6, the Ravens enter Sunday’s AFC North contest on a five-game winning streak.

“I know that they’re a tough team,” Winston said. “Historically, they have been one of the best defenses in my era, so I know they’re going to play hard. I know that they have a good secondary. One of my good friends over there, Marlon Humphrey, we’re from the same area. I know that No. 14 (Kyle Hamilton), he’s a great player. They have a nice veteran back with Eddie Jackson. He’s awesome. And Marcus Williams, he’s awesome, too. So we just got to go and do our job. It’s really not about them and who they are. It is about us and who we are.”

RELATED: ANOTHER NFL WEEK, ANOTHER 2-INTERCEPTION GAME BY A FORMER ALABAMA DEFENSIVE BACK