Tag: Usage

Saints are getting the most out of Taysom Hill, and they shouldn’t slow down

Taysom Hill had his most touches of the year on Sunday, and he’s too impactful to return to the sideline. They should keep leaning on him:

To call Taysom Hill’s performance against the Cleveland Browns incredible feels like an understatement. The New Orleans Saints tight end reverted back to the days of when he was a positionless player.

Hill totaled over 200 yards, so saying this next statement may seem a bit obvious. However, the Saints have to use Hill like that every week. Let’s go deeper than production because that level won’t happen weekly. Let’s focus on touches.

Taysom Hill should be used as a secondary rushing option to Alvin Kamara and one of the most prominent receiving threats, due to Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed’s injuries

This was only the second time this season Hill has touched the football 10 or more times. That number includes rushes, receptions and pass attempts. If you take away passes, Sunday was the first time Hill hit double digit touches.

Hill’s usage as a passer has increased recently. Over the last four weeks, Hill has attempted a pass in three of the four games. It’s a good way to keep defenses on their heels a little bit when Hill is taking the snap.

Passing can vary on a game to game basis, but his targets and rushes should remain at this pace. Hill caught 8 of 10 targets and ran the ball seven times.

Seven rushes feels like a reasonable mark to stretch for each week. The Saints don’t have many receiving threats, so three catches is doable. That’s a recipe for a minimum of 10 touches in a game. Hill is way to impactful for that to not happen on a regular basis.

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Chiefs usage of RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire in Week 1 a planned aberration

Chiefs HC Andy Reid intended to get the run game going in Week 1 and ended up feeding Edwards-Helaire.

The Kansas City Chiefs had a departure from the norm during Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season. The Chiefs are typically known as a pass-first team, as they should be with star QB Patrick Mahomes at the helm. But in Week 1 things were a little different for the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Kansas City handed the ball off a whopping 25 times to Rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who rushed 138 yards and a touchdown. The last time a single running back had 25 carries in the Chiefs’ offense was over a year ago when Damien Williams had 25 carries in the 2018 AFC divisional playoff win over the Indianapolis Colts.

When Andy Reid spoke to the media this week, he confirmed that he planned this aberration and wanted to get Edwards-Helaire and the run game going against the Texans.

“We wanted to kind of get the run game going, is what we wanted to do,” Reid told reporters. “Especially with a younger back (Clyde Edwards-Helaire), I think that was important to get him used to the speed of the game. But at the same time, you want production. You’re striving to put points on the board. So, a little bit of everything there that you mentioned—yeah, part of it was we got in there and it was working so we stuck to it. On the other hand, it was also good to get our young back some carries and experience, which I thought was important. That’s kind of the answer to it.”

Reid first and foremost intended to get Edwards-Helaire his carries and acclimated to the speed of the NFL game. Once the run game found some success, Reid didn’t want to take the ball out of his hands. He was riding the hot hand, so to speak.

Reid didn’t exactly give Edwards-Helaire carries at the expense of neglecting the passing game either. Mahomes still threw the ball 32 times, completing 75% of his passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns.

“That’s what you do as a head coach,” Reid continued. “You’re trying to manage the whole thing. So, we felt like we were still able to get people touches on the ball, or at least opportunities on the ball, and that’s important for everybody. It’s important for the team and it’s important for success on offense. And at the same time, we were able to get our young guys involved, really on both sides of the ball, which I thought was important. In the case you’re talking about, Clyde got some carries and there are a whole lot of things that go into that. How are you going to recover for the next week? There’s a way of doing that in the National Football League to get yourself right for a Wednesday practice. How do you manage yourself up to that point and get yourself ready throughout the week for the game? So, all of these things he has to learn as he goes forward here.”

A lot went into the decision to give Edwards-Helaire a boatload of carries in Week 1, but it began with Reid wanting to give the rookie a lot of carries. Even in their Super Bowl-winning season, this team struggled to find a good balance between the run game and the pass game. Edwards-Helaire seems to be providing that balance, at least through the first week of the season.

Will Edwards-Helaire continue to be utilized this heavily in the run game moving forward? As Reid seems to suggest, it all depends on how he responds mentally and physically to the workload of Week 1 as the team gets ready for their next challenge.

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