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It’s tough to list bright spots from the New Orleans Saints’ disappointing loss to the Minnesota Vikings without mentioning dynamic sometimes-quarterback Taysom Hill. Hill was one of the best players of the game, and Saints coach Sean Payton acknowledged that while crediting Hill’s ability to make an impact at almost any position.
“My understanding is you can’t find a spot for him on your fantasy roster, so it’s probably difficult for the reality of it, too,” Payton joked during his end-of-year press conference on Tuesday. Hill’s designation as a quarterback on many fantasy football websites has clashed with his habit of “vulturing” touchdowns from the Saints skills-position players, having caught six scores in the regular season (plus another one in the playoffs).
The way Payton tells it, this wasn’t really the plan. But Hill kept impressing in practice and during games on special teams, so Payton began workshopping plays to involve Hill more heavily in the offense: “It wasn’t that we looked at him differently, but the more and more we kept watching him the more and more we thought ‘he’s one of our better players and he needs to be on the field.'”
Hill turned in his biggest performance yet for the Saints in Sunday’s wild-card round loss, and it was still on Payton’s mind days later. He continued, “That (usage) evolved even more to a point where, obviously there’s a read-option element to when he’s playing quarterback, to the deep pass he threw to Deonte (Harris) was something that we felt might have a chance. He’s got real good arm strength. He was exceptional Sunday, he was outstanding. He’s an exciting football player, he does a lot of things well, and I’m glad he’s on our team.”
That certainly doesn’t sound like a coach who’s about to let a player leave in restricted free agency. The Saints can retain Hill with one of several different one-year tender options, but it’s possible another team tries to sign him should the Saints pass on the first- or second-round compensatory pick tenders. Cutting corners to use the cheap, right of first refusal tender might not be the way to go here.
Payton on how Taysom Hill's role evolved during the season #Saints pic.twitter.com/7TbD9PWok5
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 7, 2020
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