Saints sign QB Winston to 1-year deal
The Saints made it official, announcing Tuesday that they signed quarterback Jameis Winston to a one-year deal.
Winston, 26, is expected to split backup duties behind Drew Brees with Taysom Hill, who signed a two-year, $21 million contract extension Sunday. The Saints have stressed that they believe Hill can become their starting quarterback after the 41-year-old Brees retires, but they wanted to have another experienced backup in the fold to allow them to keep using Hill in his vital offensive role as both a runner and passer.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, Winston was displaced in Tampa Bay when the Buccaneers signed Tom Brady last month. Although Winston led the NFLwith 5,109 passing yards in 2019, he also became the first quarterback in league history to throw for at least 30 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions in the same season.
The NFL plans to hold its draft outdoors in downtown Cleveland next year from April 29 to May 1. Cleveland officially was awarded the 2021 NFL draft last year. The Browns will be celebrating their 75th anniversary next year. ... The Chiefs released two-time Pro Bowl punter Dustin Colquitt after 15 seasons. Colquitt, who turns 38 next month, was a third-round draft pick out of Tennessee and went on to set numerous franchise records, including most games played and most postseason appearances. ... Harland Svare, a starting linebacker on the Giants’ 1956 NFL championship team and later the team’s defensive coach while still a player, died April 4. Hewas 89. No cause of death was given. For many years, Svare also held the distinction of being the NFL’s youngest head coach at 31 years, 11 months. He was elevated from defensive line coach to head coach by the Rams midway through the 1962 season. With the Rams, Svare’s teams went 14-31-3 before he was fired following the 1965 season. He returned to the Giants as their defensive coach in 1967 and 1968 before spending the 1969 season working under Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi with the Redskins. In February 1971, Svare was hired as Chargers GM. He added the head coaching duties with four games remaining that year. The Chargers were 1-6-1 in 1973 when Svare resigned as coach with an overall record of 7-17-2. He was fired as GMafter the 1976 season.
Baseball: Orioles OF Trey Mancini is undergoing chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer and expects to miss the season if major leaguers return this summer. Mancini had a malignant tumor removed shortly before turning 28 on March 18. He has been undergoing chemotherapy since April 13. ... MLB told teams they could decide their own ticket refund policies. Spring training was suspended on March 12 and the regular season was delayed from its scheduled March 26 start. A revised schedule hasn’t been announced, and teams had treated the missed games as postponements and not announced refund policies. Two fans sued MLB, the 30 teams and ticket companies last week in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking refunds. The suit asks for class-action status. ... The Pirates are suspending retirement benefits for members of the organization’s baseball operations staff in an effort to cope with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. GM Ben Cherington said the temporary suspension of retirement benefits is part of an effort to avoid any potential personnel cutbacks.
College basketball: Daishen Nix, UCLA’s top recruit and considered by many recruiting experts the country’s top high school point guard, will forgo college basketball to become the latest high school player to join the NBA’s pro developmental program. Nix, a 6-foot-5 guard from Las Vegas Trinity Prep ranked No. 11 nationally by 247 Sports, will join Fresno’s Jalen Green and Virginia’s Isaiah Todd on the NBA G League’s select team.
Soccer: Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that no sporting events will take place in France until at least September, putting an end to the Ligue 1 season. The league had hopes of returning to training in May for a mid-June restart, and the decision now puts further pressure on UEFA regarding the Champions League, with Paris SaintGermain in the quarterfinals and Lyon leading Juventus in their round-of-16 tie. UEFA had planned to play the Champions League to a finish in August.