NFL analyst predicts Jameis Winston's fate with Browns in 2025
Cleveland's in a pickle.
The Browns, who were officially eliminated from the postseason after a 27-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 14, are starting to get an idea of what 2025 might look like if they go with Jameis Winston as their starter over Deshaun Watson.
There are a few issues with Winston - he's turnover prone, has not been a true starter for a team since 2019 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he's a free agent next season. The Browns, as any fan could tell you off the top of their head, do not have the cap space to keep together the free agent players they actually want to retain, let alone enough money to pay Winston to stay.
That leaves a hole at arguably the most important position on any NFL team, and an especially important one for Cleveland - quarterback.
NFL analyst predicts Jameis Winston's role for Browns in 2025
After the Week 14 loss to the Steelers, ESPN's Bill Barnwell wrote about Winston's up and down game for the Browns and argued that while Winston's two picks and "muted" performance were an obvious step back from his 467 passing yard game against the Denver Broncos in Week 13, he was clearly still thriving in Kevin Stefanski's offense - specifically, out of play action.
A bigger benefit to Winston, according to Barnwell in the piece, is that he isn't Watson. He provided "an out" to the Browns to move on from him as starter despite needing to pay $46 million to him for the next two seasons regardless his role.
Read more: Jameis Winston's role as QB1 shaky after Kevin Stefanski's latest comments
However, even with Winston fitting in a lot better in the starting role than Watson ever did or could, the cap space the team is working with might prevent them from being able to fit Winston into the offense long term. He's a free agent in 2025, and the team still has the contracts of Nick Chubb and Jack Conklin to worry about.
This is why Barnwell predicts that the Browns are going to be starting a rookie quarterback in 2025.
"...the financial and team building considerations have to come into play here. The Browns will roll over plenty of cap space into 2025...They have contributors to pay on defense and need to rebuild their offense," said Barnwell.
"This feels more like a situation in which Cleveland will look for a lower-cost option under center and hope to find a long-term replacement for Watson in the 2025 draft," added Barnwell.
That's a huge shift in logic for an analyst to take - especially since others like SI's Albert Breer have suggested that this quarterback class is so bad that Cleveland may stay away from one with their first rounder. But, given their restraints financially, they may have to take a chance on Cam Ward or Quinn Ewers to develop into a Winston-esque replacement while they wait out Watson's contract.