New Orleans Saints QB Jameis Winston recently appeared on the podcast “Pardon My Take,” where he had plenty of hilarious moments, including the origin story of his “Eat a W” speech.

Jameis Winston Shares Origin Story of ‘Eat a W’ Speech

Winston’s “Eat a W” pregame prep talk has become the subject of plenty of jokes since he first gave it to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2017.

It was a moment that involved Winston using the hand sign for W and awkwardly putting it in his mouth.

“I’ve been eating W’s since the beginning,” Winston said. “It started a long, long time ago, and that’s because my last name is W, and the first four letters of my last name spell out ‘wins.’ Go and fact-check me; it’s probably right on Wikipedia.”

Winston said it started with motivational speeches.

“It all stemmed from one of my favorite motivational speeches, and it all surrounds about a bowl of, do y’all remember the soup? The alphabet soup,” Winston asked.

The Pardon My Take group indeed did remember. Winston said he used to tell those around him that they were “scraping the bowl today.”

“We’re eating everything, and we’re only looking for W’s in the alphabet soup,” Winston said. There’s a lot of different options out there, but we’re looking for Ws, and we’re eating all of the Ws in the alphabet soup.”

It all happened before a game against the Saints inside the Superdome in November of 2017.

“This one game, ironically, the true thing happened in New Orleans,” Winston said. “I’m talking, and I’m inspiring guys, ‘Hey, what we eating today?’ I already had the alphabet soup conversation earlier in the year.

“I was like, ‘What we eating?’ I was like, ‘We’re eating W’s.’ I was like, ‘What this is? It’s a W. We’re eating that W.'”

Winston, who was playing through an injury at the time, said he was trying to get his team hyped up for a critical game against the Saints.

“I had a grade three AC sprain. I’m going in fighting that. We’ve been losing, how are we going to will this team to get a win in the Superdome?” Winston said. “My first NFL win was against Drew Brees and the Saints in the Superdome. I’ve got good vibes here.”

The final score of that game was 30-10 in the Saints’ favor, but Winston joked that his pregame speech was “powerful.”

“We didn’t win that game, but I felt it was powerful,” Winston said.

Winston was the starting quarterback for the Buccaneers for six seasons before being traded to New Orleans, where he has alternated as a starter and backup for the last four seasons.

KEEP READING: Saints WR Michael Thomas Rips Derek Carr on Social Media – “If I Didn’t Get Set Up by a Bad Ball”

Winston set several franchise rookie records for Tampa Bay, earning him Pro Bowl honors, and led the league in passing yards during the 2019 season.

In the 2023 season, Winston appeared in four games, completing 53.2% of his pass attempts for 264 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions.

As the 2023 NFL season comes to a close, the 2024 NFL Draft is on the horizon. Pro Football Network has you covered with everything from team draft needs to the Top 100 prospects available. Plus, fire up PFN’s Mock Draft Simulator to put yourself in the general manager’s seat and make all the calls!