The New Orleans Saints formally placed a first-round tender on restricted free agent quarterback Taysom Hill on Wednesday, as reported by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported last week that this move was coming, but now it’s official. But what does it mean?
Hill is now expected to play the 2020 season on a one-year, fully-guaranteed contract valued at around $4.641 million, per Over The Cap. While the Saints will have the ability to sign him to a contract extension at any time, he will otherwise become an unrestricted free agent in March 2021.
Additionally, other NFL teams can now sign Hill to an offer sheet, which the Saints can opt to match dollar for dollar — but if they choose not to, the team signing Hill away from New Orleans forfeits a first-round draft pick. We previously identified a few teams that could make that kind of gamble, with some (Jon Gruden’s Las Vegas Raiders, who own a pair of first rounders and are dissatisfied with easy-to-cut franchise QB Derek Carr) more plausible to take the plunge than others.
So while Hill is all set up for another year of throwing, catching, and rumbling ahead for touchdown scores (or making key blocks for his teammates), things are very much changing between him and the Saints. If he’s going to spend more time practicing as a traditional quarterback, we might see less of Hill on special teams, which is a shame given the highlight reel he’s built in that area of the game.
And as we just pointed out, there’s a possibility he ends up playing somewhere else in 2020. But while we’re speculating about his potential fits around the league, isn’t it interesting that the Raiders could host the Saints to open their new home at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas?
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