NEW YORK — Jameis Winston stood on high of a purple double-decker bus in the course of Manhattan together with his arms prolonged as if town that by no means sleeps was his oyster. He started belting out traces to the musical “Hamilton” with an enormous smile throughout his face.
“It is the Best Metropolis within the World! It is the Best Metropolis within the World!” Winston repeated a number of occasions because the bus inched down forty fifth Avenue towards Broadway.
Winston, 31, in his first yr with the New York Giants, stood and requested these on board for the noon journey to snap photos of him with the Richard Rodgers Theatre and the “Hamilton” marquee within the background. He was on a tour of town with Tremendous Bowl winners and Giants legends Eli Manning and Shaun O’Hara for “The Eli Manning Present,” at the side of NYC Tourism + Conventions and town’s four-hundredth anniversary. This particular landmark clearly struck a chord with the quarterback who joined the Giants again in March.
Winston, generally known as a lot for his outsized character as his on-field unpredictability — devours the tradition facet of his function greater than most.
It is nearly as if he belongs in “the best metropolis on this planet” and was miscast elsewhere.
It is journeys like these that helped persuade Winston to signal a two-year take care of the Giants this previous offseason. And regardless of rumblings that groups would possibly inquire about his providers, he is prone to stay in New York. His contract runs by way of 2026, and the Giants like the thought of getting a participant together with his talent and management beneath contract as their backup for $4 million subsequent season.
“I feel it is simply the whole lot that this metropolis encompasses,” Winston stated of his affinity for New York. “It matches me. It is simply large. It is broad. It is proper in your face. … That is who I’m. I am open. I am proper in your face. I am natural, genuine, and that is what town is.”
It is no surprise that the Giants and Manning approached Winston to do the tour of Manhattan on an off day throughout coaching camp final week. Not everybody could be so versatile and prepared. The trio started at One World Commerce Middle, went previous Metropolis Corridor and the Canyon of Heroes — the place Manning and O’Hara reminisced in regards to the championship parades in 2008 and ’12 — drove by the Heisman workplace to remind Winston of when he gained the award in 2013, made a cease at New York establishment Joe’s Pizza, careened down Broadway, checked out Madame Tussauds and Eli’s wax determine all earlier than ending in Occasions Sq., the place Winston had his personal billboard they usually celebrated town’s anniversary with a cake from Carlo’s Bakery.
The priceless footage and banter is documented within the first episode of Season 5 of “The Eli Manning Present,” launched Wednesday. It was solely pure that it was the charismatic Winston who joined Manning and O’Hara on the tour. Whether or not it is within the huddle or the locker room or off the sector, he is must-see leisure.
Winston embraced all of it, taking it in like a real 2025 vacationer — by way of his Ray Ban Meta glasses and a GoPro. It served him effectively, too.
“I am so honored to be on the bus with two Tremendous Bowl champions,” he stated on a number of events.
“He is type of a pure chief. He’ll communicate his thoughts. However a sensible man, knowledgeable, keen about something he is doing, whether or not it is soccer, his religion, his household, his associates,” Manning instructed ESPN.
“I feel he is a fantastic match for New York as a result of he is been by way of all of it. He is been on high of the mountain, he is had lows however he is by no means misplaced his work ethic, his dedication, his willingness to do no matter it takes to crawl his manner again, whether or not it is to be a backup or starter or simply be part of the staff. He’ll be nice teammate and do what he has to do.”
Therein lies the fantastic thing about Winston. He appreciates town and lives within the second. However he additionally cares in regards to the soccer. He picked Manning’s mind on the whole lot from how he used to watched movie to what he ate through the season as to if he most well-liked enjoying on turf or grass to what it was wish to win in New York.
That, Winston, stated, was probably the most memorable half. Listening to Manning and O’Hara describe what it was like coming down the Canyon of Heroes, with shredded paper falling down round their heads from the buildings above them like do-it-yourself confetti, earlier than ending at Metropolis Corridor to rejoice a Tremendous Bowl triumph. Winston envisioned all of it when he signed with the Giants.
“I’d like to be a Tremendous Bowl successful quarterback for the New York Soccer Giants,” he stated. “And I acquired an opportunity to be that.”
Then seemingly with no care on this planet, Winston remodeled right into a younger child seeing New York for the primary time.
“There’s Aladdin!”
“OMG, MSG! It pops up out of nowhere.”
“Good constructing!”
“Whoa, it is Occasions Sq.!”
In actuality, Winston and New York have a historical past. He turned the youngest participant to win the Heisman Trophy in 2013 and stayed on the Marriott Marquis, which coincidentally was the following landmark he noticed after the Richard Rodgers Theatre. He acquired engaged to his spouse, Breion, within the Rose Room on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in Manhattan again in 2018. He took his sons to a Yankees recreation final yr, and he noticed the Knicks play the Indiana Pacers in Recreation 1 of the Japanese Convention finals, which he considers the spotlight of his days in New York to this point.
It actually is an indication that Winston has come full-circle after accepting the Heisman in New York. After enjoying his first 5 years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who drafted him No. 1 in 2015), he spent 4 years in New Orleans and one yr in Cleveland, earlier than touchdown again within the Large Apple with the Giants.
Actually, Winston was reminded by an image with one of many house owners of Joe’s Pizza that he visited that actual spot throughout his Heisman weekend in 2013. Again then he was a younger man on the verge of a changing into an expert soccer participant. He is now a husband, father and sage veteran whose voice and management within the quarterback room are precisely what the Giants want.
And he is having fun with each second of his journey within the Large Apple, which he hopes is simply starting.
