Jameis Winston backing up Drew Brees with Saints makes too much sense not to happen

The New Orleans Saints had arguably the best backup quarterback situation in the league last season with Teddy Bridgewater, who went 5-0 as a starter when future Hall of Famer Drew Brees was out injured. Bridgewater signed a big free-agent contract with the NFC South rival Carolina Panthers this offseason, and Coach Sean Payton claims he's comfortable going into 2020 with … Taysom Hill as his No. 2?

Hill is a very unique talent who got into every game each of the past two seasons as a "Slash" type, but he also has attempted a grand total of 13 passes in his NFL career, and the former BYU star already will be 30 in August even though he'll be a fourth-yet vet in 2020. Payton loves Hill and believes he can be a long-term answer as a future starter. In fact, New Orleans slapped a first-round restricted free-agent tender on Hill this offseason.

This season is the last chance the Saints have to win a title under Brees, who will be 42 next January and Payton says Brees is done after 2020. Does Payton really want to have to use the inexperienced Hill as his starter for multiple games if Brees is injured again?

Why not sign a potentially high-ceiling, long-term replacement in Jameis Winston? Especially now that getting the No. 1 overall seed in the conference has become much more important as it earns the only bye week.

The former Bucs quarterback led the NFL in passing yards and was second in TD throws last year, and he has the type of talent to thrive under an offensive guru like Payton. The only brilliant offensive mind Winston ever played for in Tampa was Bruce Arians last year, and look at the 5,109 yards and 33 touchdowns.

Yes, Winston turns the ball over too much. Maybe Payton can fix that. Learning from Brees, too, can only help.

Winston would probably come cheap and he knows the NFC South as well as anyone. He faced the Panthers and Atlanta Falcons twice every season and went up against the Tampa Bay defense daily in practice. The Saints are -115 favorites to win the NFC South yet again, while the Bucs with Tom Brady at +175.