Jameis Winston Being 3rd String For The Giants While Jake Browning Starts For The Bengals is a Crime Against Football

I’m pretty sure every person and entity at Barstool Sports had this exact same take last night. But I’m not sure how anybody who spent 3 hours of their Monday night watching Jake Browning play quarterback for the Bengals could think anything differently. 

Me getting my hopes up for Jameis Winston every season is the epitome of the Mr. Rogers putting on a clown mask GIF. He starts out the year as a backup. He inevitably gets a chance to start for one reason or another. Then he comes out the gates looking like a top 10 QB. He wins some games. He has some great soundbites. 

He'll has have some incredible stinkers. Will make some hilariously bad throws. Sprinkle in a 12 INT game or two. 

But overall, he shows so much more potential, provides SO MUCH more entertainment, and gives his team so much more life than several other phenomenally underwhelming quarterbacks around the league. Then at the end of the season, I look around the league and think, "Somebody has to give Jameis a shot next year, right? I know he's chaotic, but at least he gives you hope. Surely someone will think Jameis Winston is their best shot at winning games next year…"

Then all the teams with shitty quarterbacks draft a rookie and convince themselves that he's the future. The only teams who could really use Jameis are the teams who've already moved on from him (Browns & Saints). And next thing you know, Jameis Winston is third on the depth chart for the Giants, making plays like this in the pre-season.

But a few weeks into the season, good quarterbacks start to get injured, and we end up watching teams who should have exciting offenses look completely inept. It’s one thing if Jake Browning is being terrible for the Panthers, or the Raiders, or any team without especially “entertaining” or "electric" wide receivers. But when one of the best receiving duos in the league is being wasted in primetime on a 125 YD, 0 TD Jake Browning performance… Against a defense who's solid, but also has a secondary who let up 300 yards through the air  in their past 2 games (one of those QB's being Daniel Jones). If there was ever a time I wanted the NFL to wildly abuse their power and overreach in an incredibly fucked up way, it's right now. Anything they need to do to get Jameis Winston to Cincinnati.

Sorry for the strays Mr. Browning. Unfortunately you're the unlucky underwhelming quarterback who was exposed in primetime this year. But Jameis Winston on the Bengals would be so much fun. It would instantly turn the Bengals into a second version of this year's Dallas Cowboys. Except with more interceptions, and their source of hilarity coming from the QB as opposed to George Pickens. 

Honestly, if Jameis Winston isn't going to start the season as a starting QB, I don't even want him to be on a team. Just have him be a free agent in waiting. A free agent who teams are allowed to sign if they're going to start him. That's his value to the NFL. A "break glass in case of emergency" QB who's available to the whole league. Unfortunately, Jameis Winston has a life, and needs to sign a contract so that he can be paid. Which is why I propose he gets paid directly by the NFL. They have plenty of money. If they really want to, they could just scrap cancer awareness month where 1% of all merch sales go to fighting disease, and replace it with, "Jameis Winston Awareness Month", where the proceeds go towards keeping Jameis Winston paid so that he can serve the NFL by being their permanent "Fun QB In-Waiting".

Or the Giants can just do a nice thing for all of us and trade Jameis to the Bengals to save the world from yet another wasted NFL offense this season.  I'm just worried he's too good of a locker room vibes guy for the Giants to part with.

They can't just leave Jackson Dart all alone with Russell Wilson. There's no telling what that could do to a young QB's psyche. It's almost like Jameis Winston is a victim of his own charisma. If he was just a little bit more of an asshole, the Giants would probably have no problem trading him. But instead, they're probably going trade Russell Wilson to the Bengals instead. Which is certainly an upgrade from Jake Browning. But at this point, I'm not really sure how much. At least not in the "fun to watch" department.