Browns quarterback Jameis Winston is embracing his new role but isn’t giving up on his future

 Browns quarterback Jameis Winston’s job isn’t changing all that much, at least not in his eyes.

“Servant,” he said. “Serving this team as I was. Just not in the role that I was serving the team.”

Winston’s role is backup quarterback, after head coach Kevin Stefanski made the decision to start Dorian Thompson-Robinson this week when the Browns head to Cincinnati for their second matchup with the Bengals.

“We’re trying to find a way to win against a division opponent on the road,” Stefanski said on Wednesday.

Stefanski made the move after Winston threw 12 interceptions in seven starts, taking over for Deshaun Watson after he ruptured his Achilles the last time the Browns played the Bengals. Eight of Winston’s interceptions came in the last three games, including three each against the Broncos in Week 13 — two of them were returned for touchdowns — and the Chiefs last week.

On the positive side of the ledger, Winston threw for 2,038 yards, which projects to 4,949 over a full season, and threw 12 touchdown passes. He’s a big reason wide receiver Jerry Jeudy reached 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career — 786 of those yards came with Winston as the starting quarterback, including 235 yards in the game at Denver.

“I definitely feel like I showed enough that I am capable of being a starter in this league,” Winston said. “However, there are some things that it’s important for me to get fixed and to get addressed so that I can be the player that I desire to be in this football league.”

Winston came to Cleveland this offseason after four years in New Orleans, where he hoped the interception bugaboo was behind him. In his only real extended playing time with the Saints in 2021, he threw 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions in seven games. His season ended when he tore his ACL. It was Sean Payton’s last year as head coach in New Orleans.

He started the first three games of the following season but, with Payton gone, threw five combined interceptions in Weeks 2 and 3. He was also dealing with back and ankle injuries and never got another chance to start in his final two seasons with the Saints.

This came after five seasons in Tampa Bay, where he started his career and, in 70 starts, threw 121 touchdowns but also 88 interceptions. His last season there, in 2019, he led the league with 5,109 yards but, on top of throwing 33 touchdowns, threw 30 interceptions, the final one a game-ending pick-six.

In Cleveland, Winston had a chance to revive his career as a starter and a moribund offense. It looked initially like he might be able to replicate some of the magic Joe Flacco found, when Flacco took over as the starter in 2023 for five games in the Browns’ push to the playoffs.

The Browns beat the Ravens, 29-24, in Winston’s first start and he threw for 334 yards and three touchdowns, but the Ravens also dropped multiple interceptions, including a potential game-ending pick by safety Kyle Hamilton.

Winston followed that up with a three-interception performance in a 27-10 loss to the Chargers.

The Browns have gone 2-5 with Winston starting and have failed to reach the 20-point mark in four of his starts, which is progress from before he took over — they never reached 20 points with Watson as the starter — but all of this is relative. The offense, despite some gaudy numbers here and there, has still been mostly uninspiring.

Sunday, Stefanski made a rare in-game quarterback change and admitted after the game he did it because of the interceptions.

“Obviously, we need to take better care of the football as an offense,” Stefanski said. “That’s the obvious part of it. And that’s Dorian’s job, that’s the offense’s job, that’s everybody who touches the ball’s job. It’s not about one person.”

It’s impossible to speculate what the future holds for Winston in a Browns uniform because we don’t know what the quarterback room will look like as a whole. Watson is expected back, but not as the starter. The Browns could end up with a top-five pick, which opens up the possibility for a high pick at the position, though this is not currently thought to be a strong class.

The Browns can also scour the veteran quarterback market, which is still taking shape but could include names like Justin Fields, Sam Darnold or Russell Wilson if their current teams let them go, and the Falcons just benched Kirk Cousins, which adds an unexpected wrinkle. There will be more.

Thompson-Robinson will state his case to be a part of the equation. A fifth-round pick in 2023, he still has two extremely affordable years on his rookie deal after this year.

Winston will be one of those options, too, but he’s not thinking about that right now, or at least not talking about it.

“What’s important is us finishing this season strong,” Winston said, “me getting behind Dorian and encouraging him to take advantage of this opportunity that he has now.”

Winston turns 31 the day after the NFL’s regular season ends, but even after 10 seasons, he’s not getting discouraged by his benching and he’s not giving up on becoming the player the Bucs envisioned when they drafted him No. 1 overall in 2015.

“The biggest thing is I’m content with the highs and I’m content with the lows, but I’m never satisfied,” Winston said. “Am I satisfied? Of course, not. But that has more to do with me than to do with the organization or any other decision that people have made. I’m going to continue to pursue my dream and I hope that another team or this team gives me an opportunity to show what I’m capable of and I’m just going to keep getting better.”

He admitted it’s challenging as a competitor, but he hasn’t lost faith in what his future can hold.

“The most important thing is being the same guy every single day despite circumstances, conditions and facts,” Winston said. “Do I like it? Of course, not. I know I’m a starting quarterback in this league. However, what you may say, you have to go out there and produce and you got to get wins for your team, you got to have elite ball security and you have to do what’s required to be that starting quarterback.”

Winston won’t get the opportunity this week, though you never know if he could get another shot this season given his role as the No. 2.

His job now is to help Thompson-Robinson get ready for the fourth start of his career and guide him through the week of preparation.

“Him just understanding what does a schedule look like,” Winston said, “what is he doing on a day-to-day basis and how he’s taking that in the film room and applying it out there on the field.”

Then he has to figure out how to get rid of those pesky interceptions, because it’s the one thing that makes it hard to commit to Winston as anything more than either a backup or a bridge.

“In terms of the interception piece, I’m dismissing that because I know that’s one thing that I’m going to get better at and I have to if I want to continue to do what I love,” Winston said.

The talent, however, is still enticing and the arm strength hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s just how Winston can figure out to improve from here.

“Eliminate all the lows, eliminate all the negatives that are in my game, and literally my game, it’s only one negative that’s in my game,” he said. “So that’s something again that I can control. That’s something that I will continue to build upon.”

Until he gets that opportunity again, whether it’s here or at his next stop, Winston will embrace the role he has with the Browns right now.

“I’m going to be rooting for my boys and being ready,” he said, “and staying ready so I don’t have to get ready.”