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The hits keep coming for the New Orleans Saints. After ruling out receiver Tre’Quan Smith earlier with a concussion and announcing that quarterback Drew Brees was questionable to return with a ribs injury, the Saints added that starting tight end Josh Hill is also out for the game while going through league concussion protocol.
It’s a big loss. Last year, Saints coach Sean Payton had to make some big adjustments to his playsheet when Hill was concussed in a game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Afterwards, he characterized the loss as, “Like losing your front door. All of a sudden there are 58 plays on the call sheet and he was involved in a lot of them, so we spent a lot of time trying to re-personnel group some of our plays — which ones we still want to run and which ones can we not run.”
Fortunately, the Saints have a fill-in at the ready in rookie draft pick Adam Trautman. Trautman caught his first career touchdown pass last week and could help handle some of Hill’s responsibilities, as could veteran pass-catching specialist Jared Cook. Hopefully this isn’t a major injury for Hill.
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