Latest sports news: Jameis Winston and the Saints a perfect situation for underachieving QB

Jameis Winston is one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL. That means he should have a starting spot, but he might have received a blessing in disguise.

Winston officially signed a one-year contract with the Saints yesterday to back up Drew Brees, who briefly considered retirement after the season. And he’s 41.

The ball is setting up perfectly to roll right into Winston’s hands when Brees hangs it up. Winston is talented, but his flaws have outweighed his gains. He led the league last season by passing for 5,109 yards, but he also led the NFL with 30 interceptions. During Weeks 14 and 15 of last season, Winston passed for 456 and 458 yards, becoming the only player in NFL history to pass for 450 yards in consecutive contests.

So the talent is there. The problem is fixing the 88 career interceptions through five seasons. And the solution is Brees and Sean Payton.

“Being a part of the New Orleans Saints -- being a part with Drew Brees, Taysom Hill, Sean Payton, coach Joe Lombardi, coach Pete Carmichael Jr. -- when you think about that room, that’s like a Harvard education in quarterback school,” Winston said Tuesday during an appearance on “Chalk Talk” with Charlie Ward on Instagram Live. “So I wanted to put my ego aside -- put the money to the side -- to think about my family, think about my career.”

Brees has led the league in interceptions before, and he also threw a career-high 22 in 2010. But he has become a first-ballot Hall of Fame lock in the years since, which included a Super Bowl title. In the last three seasons combined, he has thrown just 17 interceptions.

Payton is considered one of the best quarterback coaches in the NFL. He helped Teddy Bridgewater earn a three-year, $63 million deal with the Panthers. Like Winston, Bridgewater was an emerging starter before arriving in New Orleans. He made the Pro Bowl in 2015 with the Vikings, but a knee injury the following season resulted in him losing his job.

As good as Bridgewater was pre-injury, Winston was more prolific with the Bucs. Bridgewater had 28 touchdown and 21 interceptions in his first two seasons, and Winston threw 50 touchdowns and 33 interceptions.

This one-year deal sets Winston up with an opportunity to take the keys from Brees in New Orleans, or earn a long-term deal elsewhere, like Bridgewater.

No need to panic.

This will more than likely become the new norm. Five-star point guard Daishen Nix decommited from UCLA and announced his plans to join the G-League. He’s expected to make about $300,000 in the deal.

So another future collegiate star is off the board. Nix will be joining Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd in the G-League. Nix was widely regarded as the best point guard in the class of 2020.

This isn’t the end for the NCAA. College is still the preferred destination for most players. While Green, Todd and Nix have joined the G-League, Texas’ Greg Brown and North Carolina’s Caleb Love are two players who turned down an opportunity to go to the G-League.

This is the first year of the G League’s new developmental team for elite high school players. It’s one of the best tools created as an alternative to the one-and-done era. All eyes will be on Todd, Green and Nix because they are the pioneers.

The battle over the G League or NCAA shows that each individual’s decision is different. Nix took $300,000 to play, and Brown turned it down to attend Texas. Elite players still will attend college, but more star players will turn down college than ever.