Bucs Bridge QB Options For 2023

Winston is currently under contract with the Saints for the 2023 season, but his future in New Orleans is unclear – to put it mildly. The cap-strapped Saints can save $4.4 million by cutting him, and they likely will. The 2022 season was an odd one for the former Heisman Trophy winner. He began the season as the starter for the Saints, suffered four cracked vertebrae, played through the injuries and then sat the rest of the season behind a struggling Andy Dalton.

Winston was initially healing from those back issues, but there was a lot of ambiguity surrounding whether or not he was ready to return near the end of the season. He never did, and it’s hard to envision him being in the Saints’ plans going forward.

Winston was the Bucs’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and his five-year tenure as Tampa Bay’s quarterback was up-and-down. The former Florida State star showed obvious flashes of his talent, but turnover problems became the story of his career. After a 33-touchdown, 30-interception season in 2019, the Bucs moved on and signed Brady. Winston remains the franchise’s leader in passing yards (19,737), passing touchdowns (121), completions (1,563) and passing attempts (2,548). Given his prior history with Tampa Bay and the injuries he’s dealt with since he left, it feels unlikely that his age-29 season will be in Tampa. But he very well could be available as an option because there aren’t many good ones.

Gardner Minshew

2022 Stats – Eagles
44-of-76 (57.9%) for 663 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs

“Minshew Mania” took over Jacksonville for a short while in 2019, when the former Washington State standout threw for 3,271 yards and 21 touchdowns to six interceptions in 14 games as a rookie. He then totaled 2,259 yards and 16 touchdowns to five interceptions in nine games during the 2020 season, but his opportunities have diminished since. In 2021, he appeared in four games for the Eagles, throwing for 439 yards and four scores to one interception. And in relief of Jalen Hurts this year, he played in five games, completing 57.9% of his passes for 663 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Minshew will only be 27 when the 2023 season begins, so he’s on the younger side of these free agent quarterback options. Given how little he’s played over the last two seasons, he’s unlikely to command an exorbitant salary, so if Tampa Bay is looking for a younger, cheaper signal-caller who is looking for an opportunity to prove that he deserves more in the future, Minshew would be right up that alley.

Sam Darnold

2022 Stats – Panthers
82-of-140 (58.6%) for 1,143 yards, 7 TDs, 3 INTs

The Bucs are certainly familiar with Darnold, having seen him throw for 341 yards and three touchdowns on 23-of-37 passing against them on New Year’s Day of this year. The 25-year-old is also plenty familiar with Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, who was his coach during his 2018 rookie season. Bowles was the head coach of the Jets when they selected Darnold with the No. 3 overall pick, and he was ultimately fired after the quarterback’s rookie season.

Not much has panned out for the former USC Trojan in the NFL. He spent three seasons in New York before the team moved on by trading him to the Panthers and drafting Zach Wilson in 2021. Darnold’s 2021 season was nightmarish, and 2022 didn’t start out much better as he spent the first portion of the year dealing with an injury. But upon his return, he helped Carolina to a 4-2 record down the stretch, with his big day against Tampa Bay being one of his only two losses of the year. Bowles circling back around and bringing in the last quarterback he worked with at his previous head coaching stop feels unlikely, but crazier things have happened.