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Jameis Winston has shown this preseason that he should be the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. On Friday, it was reported that the former No. 1 overall pick was awarded the job.  

Saints head coach Sean Payton named Winston the team's starting quarterback over Taysom Hill, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. Winston outperformed Hill in the preseason and will be the successor to Drew Brees, who retired this offseason as the NFL's all-time passing yards leader. 

Winston signed a one-year deal with the Saints last year, but was unable to earn snaps over Hill when Brees went down with a rib injury. In four games, Hill completed 71.9% of his passes for 834 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions while rushing 39 times for 209 yards (5.36 yards per carry) with four touchdowns. Hill recorded a 96.9 passer rating in his four starts as the Saints went 3-1 during that stretch. 

Winston threw just 11 passes in the regular season, but threw a 56-yard touchdown pass in the Saints' NFC divisional round loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Re-signing with the Saints and having a full offseason under Payton was enough to give Winston the edge over Hill this time around.

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Winston has plenty of experience as a starting quarterback, but with mixed results. He started five seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, completing 61.3% of his passes and throwing for 19,737 yards with 121 touchdowns to 88 interceptions (86.9 rating). In Winston's final year as a starting quarterback for Tampa Bay (2019), he led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards and passing yards per game (319.3), but also led the league with 30 interceptions. He was the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a season and the first quarterback ever to throw seven pick-sixes in a season. 

This preseason, Winston took the lead over Hill and never relinquished it. Winston completed 16 of 22 passes for 219 yards with three touchdowns and one interception (124.8 rating) while Hill completed 19 of 32 passes for 219 yards with a touchdown and interception (77.5 rating). 

The Saints didn't use financial incentive when choosing their starting quarterback. Hill has a cap number of $7.259 million this year and a $8.9 million in 2022 (New Orleans won't save any cap space this offseason by moving on). Winston, on the other hand, has a cap number of $2.5 million with incentives that can reach up to $7 million. Hill will make more than Winston in 2021 -- and has a contract for next season. 

Payton is giving Winston the opportunity to lead the Saints back to the playoffs. This opportunity may be Winston's last to remain as a starting quarterback in the league.