Saints Should Not Limit Their Not-So-Secret Weapon In 2023

Even with the addition of new starting quarterback Derek Carr, the New Orleans Saints should not look to limit their most versatile weapon in Taysom Hill. Many have openly assumed that with Carr now in town that Hill will be more traditionally utilized as a tight end. While even Hill himself has confirmed that will be the case, there is no doubt that he will see his fair share of quarterback snaps as well.

Oct 16, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints tight end Taysom Hill (7) is announced to the fans before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Hill is expecting to have a larger receiver role this upcoming season, as he mentioned in his recent visit with New Orleans media. But even with that being the expectation, reducing his opportunities under center would be a bad call by the team.

In 2022, Hill took 10 or more snaps at quarterback in seven games. In those games, the Saints went 5-2. While the correlation vs. causation debate can of course be had here, two things can be true: When Hill is a big part of the gameplay, the Saints are more successful. Also, when the Saints are winning games, Hill is a good player to lean on to close out victories.

His biggest game came against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5. According to PFF during that matchup, Hill took 11 snaps at quarterback, 6 from the backfield, 4 at tight end and 2 in the slot. He also saw his usual special teams reps throughout that game as well. He was a big part of the attack against Seattle, who came in with a weak run defense. It was a perfect matchup for the Saints to exploit.

Hill did exactly that to the tune of 112 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns runs on just 9 carries. He also added a 22-yard touchdown pass to tight end Adam Trautman and a fumble recovery on an awful fake punt decision by Seattle's special teams unit. These are the places Hill most impacts the game.

A similar showing but different game situation came into play during a winter-weather game against the Cleveland Browns. New Orleans left everyone watching wondering what was going on after Hill made little to no appearances during the first half of the game. However, that changed after halftime.

Like a secret weapon, Hill was saved for the first half hour of game time only to decimate the Browns' run defense for the latter half. He piled on another 56 rushing yards and a critical score on 9 carries to ice (no pun intended) the game in favor of New Orleans.  While his Seattle performance is an example of him leading his team to a victory, the Cleveland showing was all about him finishing the victory for the team. However in both scenarios, Hill's impact came from the quarterback position.

Jun 13, 2023; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints tight end Taysom Hill (7) passes during minicamp at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Hill was undoubtedly a much-needed boost to a struggling and injured offense throughout the 2022 season. The questions that did exist all centered around the team's challenges in keeping him involved.

The Saints offense should look a lot better in 2023 than it did last season. With the addition of Carr and the massive amount of attention paid to skill positions, it would be hard not to improve. But they can be sure of it by consistently mixing Hill in. A lot of times New Orleans would acknowledge that they did not deploy their versatile weapon as much as they would have liked because of game situations.

Hopefully in 2023, the Saints will have approaches prepared that maximize Hill whether the team is in the lead or trailing. Often times, the explanation around his inconsistent usage centered around being behind on the scoreboard. New Orleans needs to expand its plans with Hill so that whether leading or trailing, he has a role and opportunity to impact the game.

His usage as a receiver may be the element that takes on a larger focus when trailing. Carr has the most game-winning drives since 2016 across the entire league, after all. Sounds like a guy you would want to have commanding things in endgame, catch-up situations. But that does not need to mean completely scrapping the Hill playbook like we saw last season.

So sure, bolster Hill’s impact as a receiver. There is absolute value in that. However, do not overlook the game-changing effect he can have at quarterback.