Each summer, 32 NFL teams trim their rosters from 90 players down to 53-man squads with more than 1,000 players being waived or released.
Teams then sort through the waiver wire and claim select players cut by other clubs. Eight years ago, the Green Bay Packers waived backup quarterback Taysom Hill. White reviewing film of recently waived wide receiver Max McCaffrey, then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton noticed Hill.
“I was looking at Max McCaffrey at Green Bay — it was midnight — for a practice squad [spot], and I kept noticing this No. 7 at quarterback,” Payton recalled earlier this week after the Denver Broncos made their roster cuts. “We got more tape, and it was Taysom Hill. There was a play where he scrambled 43 yards for a touchdown. If you watched it, when he got to the end zone, the whole bench emptied, kind of like ours did the other night.
“I called [Jeff] Ireland in, and I said, ‘What do you see here? Well, you see a fast quarterback, but then watch what happens afterwards.’ So we claimed him at the 11 spot.”
Payton found Hill in 2017 and it paid off big time for the Saints. The quarterback became a do-it-all-player in New Orleans, totaling 3,352 all-purpose yards and scoring 38 touchdowns over the last six seasons. Hill has also played more than 1,000 snaps on special teams with the Saints.
Payton was not awarded any players off waivers with the Broncos after roster cuts this year, but he’s constantly looking for the next overlooked gem.
“There is that uneasy feeling that someone’s out there,” Payton said. “Where are they? You do your best to try to find them.”
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