… was the tweet from Jameis Winston when he inked with the NY Giants. This was the signing that Wonder and I supported.
Jordan Raanan is throwing cold water on any upside to this deal.
“Do we really think Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll sold John Mara on Jameis Winston and another veteran as their plan on the Friday before the regular season finale? A QB in the draft is coming. That will determine the Giants future.”
-Jordan Raanan 3/22/25 8:33am tweet
My answer to this is that Raanan is a journalist and not in the trenches of business. Past performance is no indication of future success. Go tell Sam Darnold, Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield that their past determined their future. Yes, Raanan is correct that Winston wasn’t the January plan. But no, it’s not just the draft pick which can determine the Giants’ future.
For your homework assignment, I want you to first watch the 16 minutes of highlights of Denver vs Cleveland on Monday night. It’s anything but work for an NFL fan. I watched the game live and then I watched it again on Saturday. It’s got the good and bad with Winston. Brilliant passing. 3 picks.
Second, after you have watched the DEN CLE game, I want you to watch this quick video talking about Jayden Daniels’ results with VR goggles. “80% faster.”
You can’t write off Winston. Get those goggles on. Slow the game down. Winston is the ultimate teammate, according to Cam Jordan. First one in. We’ve heard this before with Daniel Jones, so that’s not an indicator of success by itself. It does speak to two things- (a) Winston will be accepted by his teammates. (b) Winston will be able to do the work.
Get those goggles on. The only constant is change. Winston has all the tools except the INT/decisions. The goggles are a perfect catalyst for this player.
The contract? $8M for 2 years, with incentives. “El perfecto,” says Wonder, giving his approval to the affordability of the risk/reward.
Dan Schneier of Big Blue Banter podcast also makes a different point which I want to share: If Daboll is the QB whisperer and he’s been thrown a lifeline for another year to reclaim his job, well, earn it by coaching Winston up to improved levels of performance. Schneier notes that Winston has tremendous skills with an ability to throw anywhere on the field. My goodness, there were more “found” receivers by Winston in one freaking game vs Denver than we saw from Jones in literally YEARS of football. I cannot wait to see what Winston does in that offense.
If the impatient Giants force QB in at 1.03, they will have Winston on a very short leash. The pressure to not only play the 1.03 pick combined with the realities of matriculating a highly selected QB in his rookie contract will “Kurt-Warner” Winston at his first misstep. That’s a mistake. Even the great Mahomes held a clipboard his first year. But this is what Mara wanted.
Yes, a quick word on Mara. We interrupt this regularly scheduled NY Giants blog post to remind all Giants fans that the impatience of 2025 is not a Schoen/Daboll creation. Those two will do what you or I would do in that situation- we’d tap out in 2025 if we knew our job was on the line. Yet it’s Mara who has enabled this. Just like he did with Gettleman in 2021, in the interest of “continuity” Mara drove rashness and (sadly) destruction. Mara’s own words for 2025: “It better not take too long, because I’ve just about run out of patience.” Schoen and Daboll can succeed, but they need things to break their way. Stafford. No. Rodgers. No. Given a choice between Wilson and Winston, they made a better choice with the 31 year old. I find it ironic that they had to back into a setup with a better longer term potential.
Winston is not a 100% slam dunk transformation. I’m arguing that you must adapt to change, and you must give THIS player, not just the draft pick, the opportunity to become your franchise QB. He’s 31. He’s the best locker room teammate Cam Jordan’s ever played with. He’s NY-ready. Put him in a position to succeed. He’s got the skills. Get the goggles on. Speed up the game to slow it down. And start spreading the W’s.