Former Saints coach Sean Payton saw potential in Taysom Hill as a dual-threat option as a full-time quarterback. Hill spent the 2021 offseason training at the position but lost the starting job to Jameis Winston.
Winston’s season-ending knee injury allowed Hill to start a career-high five games at quarterback last season. Hill also started four other games at either wide receiver or tight end.
New Saints coach Dennis Allen said in March that Hill’s focus would be at tight end with Winston as their starting quarterback and Andy Dalton as the primary backup.
But the do-it-all Swiss Army knife still is going to get snaps at quarterback and other positions, Allen said Thursday.
“I look at Taysom Hill as a weapon in a lot of different areas,” Allen said, via video from Jack Culotta Jr. of Boot Krewe Media. “We talk all the time about position-less players on defense. I don’t know that ‘position-less’ is the right word for Taysom. He’s a multiple-position player. I look at him as a weapon in the passing game. I look at him as a weapon playing at the quarterback position. I look at him with the ball in his hands. I look at him on special teams in a lot of different areas. And so there’s a ton of places where Taysom Hill can help this football team win, and we want to utilize him in all those different roles.”
Hill has played quarterback, receiver, tight end, running back and on special teams.
In 2018, Hill played only 64 of his 661 total snaps, including special teams, at quarterback, per Pro Football Focus. A year later, Hill played only 41 of 528 total snaps at quarterback. It sounds as if that’s the direction Hill’s career is returning.
In his time as a quarterback, Hill has completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,025 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees has said Hill should get “10 to 15 snaps at quarterback a game at a minimum, just with the threat he is.”