Dead on, Boston. But Winston detractors ignore those facts. They continue to bring up his college transgressions and his interceptions in an extremely interception friendly offense coupled with one of the worst defenses in the NFL which was always forcing him to play from behind. They ignore that he has been universally loved by his teammates and has been praised as a hard worker by all ... INCLUDING Drew Brees himself.

I see. Your “Let's see Winston play under the same scrutiny as other NFL QBs” statement threw me off a little as I feel he’s had great scrutiny. For example he was shredded all over the media for his 30 INT season and people overlooked that he also had 5,000+ yards and 33 TDs that year. By comparison Bret Favre didn’t get near the grief for his 29 INT season in 2005 that had less than 4,000 yards and only 20 TDs. Manning had a worse statistical year than Winston’s early in his career too and he wasn’t knocked as hard as Winston was.

I also think Brees got recognition because the first year he came here he led us to our first NFC championship appearance. And while You are correct that If you take out Winston’s two best games (out of only 6 1/2) he didn’t have great numbers, but he also wasn’t the TO machine he had the label of being. It’s not like any of his replacements did any better.

Plus let’s take a look at Drew’s first year here. If we pull out his two best games (Dallas and Tampa) he had 18 TDs in 14 games. That’s just over 1/game. Very similar to Jameis. Plus he had 11 INTs in those 14 games. That’s worse than Winston’s 2 INT in 4 1/2 games (He threw one against the Redskins game we are throwing out). Just food for thought.

I also think Colston, Horn, and Henderson were better than what Winston had to work with last year.

Agree that he has no excuses (maybe his injury) now. On paper he has the tools at WR. He should be able to get near his 5000 yard, 33 Td season while still keeping TOs down. The improved D (vs what he had in Tampa) should ensure that.

That being said I am a little worried about the RB situation, esp if Kamara has a suspension. If not he he is still likely to miss a handful of games with injuries. So, I say we have a few question marks at RB. I also don’t like our TE situation unless the Krull steps up. So the RB and TE question marks are worrisome issues just like Winston had at Tampa even though he had good WRs.

i do think Payton drilled into him to not thrown INTs..so that kept him down. But so did the lack of quality receivers and TEs. Maybe Payton told him to keep things in check because he felt he didn’t have TEs or WRs that could be trusted to make plays. That happened to Drew in the playoff loss to tampa…his TE fumbled and his WRs weren’t stepping up without a healthy Thomas.

You are right though that the proof will be on the field. I am very optimistic.

Don't forget about Taysom Hill at TE. He was the 19th rated TE (2022 PPR projections) in our dynasty/legacy league draft going on right now.

Good point. He slipped my mind.

He's slipped several minds. Somehow, the fantasy sites are on top of it, however.

Agree that he has no excuses (maybe his injury) now. On paper he has the tools at WR. He should be able to get near his 5000 yard, 33 Td season while still keeping TOs down. The improved D (vs what he had in Tampa) should ensure that.

That being said I am a little worried about the RB situation, esp if Kamara has a suspension. If not he he is still likely to miss a handful of games with injuries. So, I say we have a few question marks at RB. I also don’t like our TE situation unless the Krull steps up. So the RB and TE question marks are worrisome issues just like Winston had at Tampa even though he had good WRs.

i do think Payton drilled into him to not thrown INTs..so that kept him down. But so did the lack of quality receivers and TEs. Maybe Payton told him to keep things in check because he felt he didn’t have TEs or WRs that could be trusted to make plays. That happened to Drew in the playoff loss to tampa…his TE fumbled and his WRs weren’t stepping up without a healthy Thomas.

You are right though that the proof will be on the field. I am very optimistic.

Sure wished we still had Dan Campbell coaching TEs; like Dan Roushar, but not sure how his duties lay out between TEs and Run Game Coordinator...

We also just added Kahale Warring who's got a poor history of staying healthy, but he's athletically a dancing bear; fingers crossed?

Krull left Florida because he was stuck behind Kyle Pitts on the depth chart so he transferred to Pitt and though he only had one season, it was an impressive one...

Quietly optimistic about the depth of the TE position; but as we get into Training Camp/PreSeason, you may recall this conversation...

What if he turns out to be better than Kyle Pitts? Wouldn't be the first time a college coach biffed up on evaluating a player only to see that player far outdo/exceed his choice.