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Trevor Siemian struggled in his third start as the New Orleans Saints’ top quarterback, completing 22 of his 40 pass attempts for 214 yards, mostly in garbage time once the Philadelphia Eagles took a big lead. He threw nearly as many interceptions (2) as touchdown passes (3) and struggled to find open receivers throughout the afternoon.
So his ugly performance naturally drew attention to Taysom Hill, who competed with Jameis Winston for the starting job over the summer. But Hill missed most of a month earlier this season to a concussion. And he suffered a foot injury not long after his return which kept him out of practice until the Friday before this Eagles game, when he participated on a limited basis.
And while the Saints made Hill their only other active quarterback against Philadelphia, he never even put on his helmet. He spent the day as an observer from the sidelines wearing a cap and headset with inactive rookie Ian Book, a healthy scratch, on standby in sweatpants. Hill never got in the game, neither in his versatile pass-catching role nor as a passer himself, and Sean Payton said afterwards that was the plan.
“He was the backup quarterback, really, in the event we needed him. We were lucky to have him up just in that role,” Payton said in his postgame press conference. When asked what the plan may have been if Hill were healthy, he demurred: “I don’t want to speculate. We were able to get him to move around enough.”
Still, it looks like an odd decision. So Hill isn’t healthy enough to start outright or go run a route, but he’s well enough to be rushed into the game if Siemian is injured? That’s tough to square. The Saints don’t appear to want Book to get on the field under any circumstances by putting Hill in front of him.
Even with Siemian struggling and Hill’s skills set sharing little overlap with either of the two other quarterbacks, this is the closest thing you’ll see to a redshirt year in the NFL. It’s perplexing and makes you wonder if they’re going to bring in a fourth passer — maybe Clayton Thorson, who tried out last week.
We’ll see how the plan develops pretty soon. New Orleans is dealing with a quick turnaround with the Buffalo Bills visiting on Thursday night. Ineffective as Siemian has been with a weaker-than-expected supporting cast. there doesn’t appear to be much interest in replacing him with Hill or Book as the Saints’ starting quarterback.
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