The New Orleans Saints have signed former Mississippi State quarterback K.J. Costello after starting quarterback Jameis Winston went down with a foot injury during Tuesday’s practice.
Costello most previously played quarterback for the United States Football League’s (USFL) Philadelphia Stars. While he didn’t get a lot of playing time early in the USFL’s 2022 season, Costello was able to showcase his talents in the championship game against the Birmingham Stallions after the Stars starting quarterback Case Cookus went down with an injury.
During his short tenure at Mississippi State, Costello displayed a remarkable ability to throw the football by tacking on 1,283 passing yards and six touchdowns in just six games played. His downfall with the Bulldogs was his inability to protect the football, throwing for 11 interceptions.
The most memorable game for Costello in the maroon and white came in his debut versus LSU in week one of the 2020 season. The Stanford transfer threw for a school and SEC-record 623 yards, earning him the honors of SEC Offensive Player of the Week as well as Maxwell and Walter Camp FBS National Offensive Player of the Week.
As for Winston’s injury status, Luke Johnson from The New Orleans Advocate says that the Saints believe they dodged a major bullet. Johnson believe Winston will miss the Saints’ first preseason game, scheduled for Saturday night versus the Houston Texans, but he expects to see the starting quarterback in action sooner rather than later.
“I think they feel like they dodged anything major with this. I wouldn’t expect to see him out at practice tomorrow and I certainly wouldn’t expect to see him in the preseason opener,” Johnson said. “But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him out there when they’re practicing against the Packers in Green Bay next week. In fact, I’m kind of expecting that.”
The Saints will kick of the 2022 season against the Atlanta Falcons on September 11.
