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As expected, the NFL’s 3 p.m. deadline on Friday, April 17 passed without an offer sheet for New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill. The restricted free agent received a formal first-round tender worth over $4 million back in March, which he will now sign so that he can play football in 2020. Teams had until this point to make Hill an offer, though signing him to a deal that the Saints declined to match would have cost them a first-round draft pick.
Now, this does not necessarily mean that Hill will play for the Saints this year. He could still be traded to another team if the right offer is put on the table, but New Orleans’ decision to tender him at the highest possible value suggests they won’t send him away for peanuts.
Nor should they. Hill’s presence is often electric, especially when he’s allowed to make a play with the ball in his hands. Just look at last season’s playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings, when Hill was the only playmaker on offense for most of the second half. His impact was felt through the air and on the ground in some of that game’s brightest moments.
While the Saints can call him a quarterback all they want, more than half of Hill’s plays came on special teams in 2019, and their plans for 2020 include adding a third passer so that Hill can continue to sprint downfield and crash into opponents with his throwing shoulder. It’ll be fascinating to see whether the Saints change their approach, creating a scenario where Hill is able to handle the majority of snaps from under center as the starting quarterback.
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