Saints, Taysom Hill agree to two-year, $21 million contract

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Taysom Hill is committing to the Saints for two more years.

Hill, who had been tendered as a restricted free agent for this year, has agreed to a two-year deal to keep him in New Orleans through 2021.

According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, it’s a two-year, $21 million deal with $16 million guaranteed.

That gives Hill a significant bump from the $4.6 million he would have made this year if he had only signed his tender offer, but it also pays him a lot less than starting quarterbacks make on the open market, and Hill has consistently maintained that he expects to be a starting quarterback some day — and Saints coach Sean Payton has said Hill has that kind of talent.

Although the Saints are reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Jameis Winston, nothing has been announced on that front. If Winston were to sign with the Saints, he would likely take over the backup role Teddy Bridgewater played behind Drew Brees last year, while Hill would continue to play a variety of positions.

54 responses to “Saints, Taysom Hill agree to two-year, $21 million contract

  1. $10.5M/yr is pretty good for a player who’s not good enough to start at any position, and only good enough to be the 3rd string QB.

  2. If the Saints would have kept with using Hill in the playoff game against the Vikings last year they win the game. If I were a Saints fan I would want to see a lot more of Hill under center this year and going forward than Brees. Brees is a first ballot hall of gamer but his best years are behind him now. And Hill seems to be unstoppable at times.

  3. Thats plain nuts.
    I can see paying high backup money, but not that.

  4. That’s a lot of coin for a gimmick QB who’s thrown 13 career passes for a 46 percent completion percentage.

  5. The Saints put there money where their mouth is to invest in Hill. He will get a shot at the starting job after Brees retires. The Saints have had him in the building long enough to know if he has potential to run the offense. They certainly are ramping up on the offensive line.

  6. I’m just not seeing it. A gimmick part time player making $10 mil a season? He’s good enough to be a starter, but not good enough to be their back-up? Ok then.

  7. Even more reson why they shoulda kept Teddy and got rid of the rest – it woulda worked out much cheaper! Brees $25m/yr + Taysom $10m/yr, compared to Teddy $21m/yr & a draftee.

  8. joshhatesthesteelers says:
    April 26, 2020 at 12:36 pm
    That’s a lot of coin for a gimmick QB who’s thrown 13 career passes for a 46 percent completion percentage.
    ___________

    That’s one way of putting it. Another is, he gives you quality depth at qb, rb, wr, te, and could make the pro bowl on special teams. Also, he’s a matchup nightmare when he lines up at any position on offense.

    I’m not sure what the baseline value for a player like that is, but Payton made damn sure the guy will play for the Saints for at least the next two years.

  9. Nothing says “we think you can be a starter” like bringing in a former #1 pick that threw 30 TDS last season…not sure what the Saints are thinking here. Taysom Hill is a gadget player.

  10. This is crazy money for a gadget guy! Should be closer to a backup QB salary, or a mediocre WR salary

  11. That’s one way of putting it. Another is, he gives you quality depth at qb, rb, wr, te, and could make the pro bowl on special teams. Also, he’s a matchup nightmare when he lines up at any position on offense.
    ———————-

    I’m sorry but his career numbers for the soon to be 30-year old do not shout “matchup nightmare.” They shout “player we were previously unaware of”.

    This is a massssssive overpayment.

  12. Reminds me of Kordell Stewart when he started out with the Steelers. But without the crazy money! Hill is a great player, but not a starting QB. That’s why Winston will be signed.

  13. imanidiot says:
    April 26, 2020 at 1:24 pm
    That’s a lot of money for a—wait, what is he again?
    ———————————————————–

    QB – throws and runs for touchdowns
    Special teams – blocks kicks, tackles like a linebacker
    receiver- catches passes for TDs, from flares to bombs, and is the second fastest player on the team

    I call that the Swiss Army knife – does multiple things very well.

    Very very happy to have Taysom in the WhoDat family for two more years

  14. Maybe the coach who has coached the all-time passing leader (and who did that after he had already played four years elsewhere, two of them terribly) knows what he’s doing with his team he sees everyday. I’d venture to say the plan is for Brees to start with Winston playing the Bridgewater role this year, and then next year, Hill takes over with Stevens, a similar type player, being his backup then. Makes all the sense in the world to me, but I’m not a keyboard GM who knows better than a HOF coach and his staff.

  15. If Payton says he has the talent to be a starting QB then why Winston? Why not just keep him on the tender for a year and then figure out which one to keep…

  16. I don’t understand the Saint’s obsession with this guy. Hill’s a great athlete that can sometimes lineup at QB and get first downs. That’s not worth $10m a season in a salary cap league, especially if the Saint’s aren’t winning Super Bowls.

    They just drafted his replacement with 7th round pick QB Tommy Stevens. This is Stevens’ draft description: “He’s got an outstanding combination of size and speed. He’s a streaky passer and a better athlete than quarterback at this point.” Sound familiar?

  17. If he was so good, you think they would have gone with him instead of Teddy last year when Brees was out. My guess is Hill is not even a serviceable backup QB. Who knows what in the world the Saints are doing

  18. Huge payday for Hill. Well deserved and his role will increase with Brees getting older.
    Eagles will do the same with Hurts

  19. I have less problem with this than what they are paying Janoris Jenkins.

    He’s a gimmick player but with Brees’ skills diminishing at end of last two seasons, they need it.

    Ten mil is steep, but someone else would have paid it, even though he’s almost 30.

  20. QB – throws and runs for touchdowns
    Special teams – blocks kicks, tackles like a linebacker
    receiver- catches passes for TDs, from flares to bombs, and is the second fastest player on the team

    I call that the Swiss Army knife – does multiple things very well.

    Very very happy to have Taysom in the WhoDat family for two more years
    —————————————

    Hill has never thrown an NFL touchdown pass. Zero.
    He has 3 career rushing TDs. 3.
    He has 6 career received TDs. All this past year. Nice ratio of catches to TDs though, I’ll give him that on only 19 catches.
    He has never rushed the ball more than 5 times in a game.
    He has only one career catch over 40 yards.
    He’s not sneaking up on anyone anymore.

    Apparently the Saints think he’s worth the value to them at this point but that’s a lot of money for a player that contributes this on the offensive side of the ball.

  21. Very good money for a mediocre special teams player, and fourth or fifth string running back.

  22. “Then how and more importantly, why are they signing Winston?”

    Because, see, the Saints got it figured out. They’ll sign Winston for the bare minimum to be the true backup, and give the gadget player 8 million a year to play 22% of the offensive snaps! That Sean Payton, he’s got it figured out!

    And how do they have the money for all this? They didn’t bother to spend it on ways that might improve their team! They lost at home in the first round to the Vikings of all teams, but you know what? They will double down on their philosophy. They have had a top 5 QB in NFL history and they haven’t been to the superbowl in a decade. But having a gadget player that doesn’t see a quarter of the offensive snaps is more important than, say, any lack of depth they have on the roster. And with TB in the division, they willfully chose to continue this, without any hint of urgency!

  23. At least they didn’t draft a backup QB after signing a QB to a 127 million dollar contact.

  24. I get his value to the Saints – I guess – but was he going to get this kind of money from any other team in the league?

    To put it into perspective, only four RB’s in the entire league have a higher per season average salary; and it’s 4X what they’re paying Kamara . . .

  25. It’s the year of “throw everything we can get our hands on at the wall and see what sticks” in NO. With how close they are to contending, it may not be a bad strategy.

    Pro tip for the Saints: Stop letting games go to overtime.

  26. That just tells you the saints believe in this guy and are willing to pay him to keep him on the roster. Looking forward to watching his career progress, Don’t really wanna see drew brees retire but would like to see him start at qb.

  27. You people who keep saying the offense would have to be tailored totally different for him but don’t get why Bridgewater started the five games last year or why Winston would be brought in for a year to do the same thing are funny. It’s like you’re not even reading what you’re writing.

  28. PaySum Hill is no Teddy Bridgewater and he’s no Jameis Winston either.

    He is a gimmicky player that has no moves, runs like a linebacker and throws like a safety

    Ouch, bad GMing there, what a waste of $

  29. When they ran that god-awful read-option with Kamara, 99.9% he kept the ball….all in an effort to hoodwink Payton (sucker) to pay him this kind of $ in this deal. It became as obvious as MJ getting the ball late in the 4th Qtr with the game on the line. Comically obvious.

    Hats off to his agent, for committing the cap crime of the century. They played on the fact that Payton has been reading (and believing) his own press clippings for the last 10 YEARS(!) as the “offensive genius innovator” and took the Aints to the cleaners

  30. Not bad for a guy signed by Green Bay as an undrafted free agent, who they could not slip thru the waiver wire on final cut-downs to stash on their practice squad!

  31. $21 million for a gadget player? SMH. Should have kept Teddy Bridgewater.

  32. Does anyone other than the most die-hard Saints fans really think Hill would be an above average starter at any of these multiple positions he plays? Payton needs to assert his belief in him by actually giving him the ball more or letting him be a REAL backup QB if he’s gonna pay him all this.

  33. conormacleod says:
    April 26, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    I’m just not seeing it. A gimmick part time player making $10 mil a season? He’s good enough to be a starter, but not good enough to be their back-up? Ok then.

    ———————————————————————————-

    He’s not making 10 million per season. He’s making 4.8 million this season to be a a TE/RB/WR/QB/STer and 16+ million next season to be the starting QB.

  34. infectorman says:
    April 26, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    When they ran that god-awful read-option with Kamara, 99.9% he kept the ball….all in an effort to hoodwink Payton (sucker) to pay him this kind of $ in this deal. It became as obvious as MJ getting the ball late in the 4th Qtr with the game on the line. Comically obvious.

    Hats off to his agent, for committing the cap crime of the century. They played on the fact that Payton has been reading (and believing) his own press clippings for the last 10 YEARS(!) as the “offensive genius innovator” and took the Aints to the cleaners

    ———————————————————————————

    If it was so obvious then how come he averaged 5.8 yards per carry

  35. For the Saints sake, I hope they plan to give him more than the 46 total touches he had last year. Yes, 46 touches all year. That’s not even 3 per game, and that was with Brees missing 5 games. If they don’t, those are some really expensive touches.

  36. tm05 says:
    April 26, 2020 at 2:59 pm
    If he was so good, you think they would have gone with him instead of Teddy last year when Brees was out. My guess is Hill is not even a serviceable backup QB. Who knows what in the world the Saints are doing
    ——————————————————————————————————–

    His value to the Saints is the fact that he plays multiple positions well, is extremely smart, is the second fastest guy on the team, is a quick study, hits and tackles hard, and brings many options to Payton’s offense. Saints went with Teddy to preserve all of those options with Taysom.

    I get the doubters, I really do, but sometimes a player is worth the most to his current team b/c they understand how best to use him.

  37. purpleppleater84 says:
    April 26, 2020 at 12:20 pm
    If the Saints would have kept with using Hill in the playoff game against the Vikings last year they win the game.

    ——-

    If Breees had not have choked the last two years they may have gone further as well

  38. There have been players that have put up big numbers in or two games and parlayed that into a big paydays and turn out as hot garbage. Hill has shown to be a valuable asset when called upon the last two seasons. The man is a football player and 31 other teams would love to have him but don’t value him as much financially. When an offensive skill player got hurt there wasn’t any scrambling to bring a guy in to give a few plays here and there. His value is his ability to perform whether throwing/catching passes, blocking, running for first downs, blocking kicks, making special team tackles, or cheerleading on the sidelines. I’m sure that NO would gladly accept another season like last year from Hill and not complain about what he got paid.

  39. If Chuck Norris and Tim Tebow has a kid! That’s Taysom Hill! Why all the hate? Everyone of you would be ecstatic to have him on your team if you had the chance.

  40. mdd913 says:
    April 27, 2020 at 1:46 am
    infectorman says:
    April 26, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    When they ran that god-awful read-option with Kamara, 99.9% he kept the ball….all in an effort to hoodwink Payton (sucker) to pay him this kind of $ in this deal. It became as obvious as MJ getting the ball late in the 4th Qtr with the game on the line. Comically obvious.

    Hats off to his agent, for committing the cap crime of the century. They played on the fact that Payton has been reading (and believing) his own press clippings for the last 10 YEARS(!) as the “offensive genius innovator” and took the Aints to the cleaners

    ———————————————————————————

    If it was so obvious then how come he averaged 5.8 yards per carry

    ________________________________________________

    Here are his 2019 Reg season rushing plays broken down:

    6 plays of of > 10 yards
    8 plays of between 4-7 yards
    8 plays of between 1-3 yards
    5 plays where he lost yardage

    He’s a 50/50 bet, maybe and now that there’s more a book on him, defenses will be better prepared to game plan him out of the game. To take Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Jared Cook and Latavius Murray out of the plays for his skill set is completely overthinking it.

  41. “Another is, he gives you quality depth at qb, rb, wr, te…”
    ______________

    He’s not a traditional backup at any of these positions. Their starting QB went down last season and they didn’t make him the starter. If a RB gets hurt they aren’t going to make him the starter. Same for WR and TE. They have $10 million+ per season tied up in a guy who literally cannot start at any position which is kind of nuts even if he is exciting to watch for a handful of plays per game.

  42. Crazy contract for a player who doesn’t really have a position. He’s not a QB, he’s not a receiver, maybe he’s a RB but has few carries in 3 years. Not sure why you give a part time player/ST’s guy more than 10 mill a year.

  43. cnuterockne says:
    April 27, 2020 at 1:32 pm
    Taysom Hill has to be the most overhyped backup QB in history.

    ===============================

    That would be Nick Foles (and yes I’m an Eagle fan and will always love what he did for us). At this time last year a lot of people thought the Eagles were nuts for letting him go. Where are those people now?

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