Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Didn't want this to get lost in the roster mega-thread. Chris referred to this there ...

Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end

Published: Mar 29, 2022 at 09:01 AM

Kevin Patra
Around the NFL Writer

With Sean Payton stepping away from the New Orleans Saints football program, it appears  Taysom Hill 's run as an everyday quarterback could be ending as well.

Speaking Tuesday at the NFL's Annual League Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, new Saints head coach Dennis Allen told reporters the plan is for Hill to focus on tight end, per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.

In five seasons under Payton, Hill has been used as a do-it-all Swiss Army Knife player. The 31-year-old has been a QB, WR, TE, RB and special teams ace.

The past two seasons, Hill has started nine games under center, as Payton saw him as a potential quarterbacking option who could be a dual-threat from the position. While he brought a diverse skillset to the position, Hill proved to be mostly inconsistent as a passer. Most of the Saints' success with Hill under center came when he ran the ball.

For his career, Hill has completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,025 yards with eight TDs and eight INTs. In 2021, he completed 58.2 percent of his passes for 978 yards with four TDs and five INTs.

With the Saints re-signing  Jameis Winston  to be the starter, Hill focusing on the tight end makes sense for New Orleans, which has a need at the position. In addition, it will allow the Saints offense to get Hill on the field more often and provide them additional chances to use him in various ways.

Expect more of the short-yardage and gadget plays from Hill than we've seen earlier in his career coming in 2022.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

This makes Jameis the clear cut #1 and allows Taysom to bulk up as he was two years ago with the hopes of being the QB out of the picture. It also helps fill the TE void to a degree.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

I'd like to see him play some special teams again as well. It gave the unit an extra spark.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

He's already better than Trautman, so he should get plenty of playing time.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Honestly, with his concussion history for his own sake I hope we limit his special teams + running back roles. He's not going to do us any good in the tent.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

I can see Taysom lining up as a wildcat in certain situations and still be a threat to throw.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

It shouldn't prevent any kind of trickery to keep the defenses guessing... :popcorn:

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

That took a whole lot of insight on your part Larry. :rolleyes:

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

I don't know how to feel about this. Have we seen him catching a lot of passes down field? Or have we seen him line up as a blocker? I know he would be a mismatch for a linebacker in space, but I don't know if he's a TE.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

We haven't seen him committed to this role before either. He's been more of the gadget player dabbling in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. With his speed he could be a mismatch for safeties, as well. Given a chance to run the whole spectrum of available TE routes there's no telling what kind of impact he could have. As for that, what is a TE anymore? :confused:

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Will end up being one of the best TE in the league. Excellent choice by our coaching staff

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Pretty apparent (Dalton, Bortles, Book) now that new HC Allen has no interest in lining Taysom under center going forward.

Hopefully that foot heals 💯 this off season.

Playing TE at this level is a different animal.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

This is great news. And we still can use Taysom in short yardage/goalline as our break-glass QB power solution.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Taysom lined up at TE the majority of the time when he wasn’t playing QB. Should be fine.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Lisfranc can be tricky.

Side note.

Rec Stats:
Taysom 2019: 19rec 234yds 6td
Trautman 2021: 27 / 263 / 2

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

#7 never looked better on a player.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

I’ll take Taysom @ TE over Nick Vannett, Juwan and Trautman.

Hope his foot has healed 💯 by the start of the season.

It won’t surprise me to see the Saints draft another TE late in the upcoming draft.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

It's prolly a guarantee they draft a TE... one from THE Ohio St U?

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

What we have at tight end is really bad for an NFL roster.

Re: Saints head coach Dennis Allen says Taysom Hill will focus on playing tight end
 

You need to look closely at other NFL rosters. Sure, there's some really good TE's out there, but half the league is no better off than us. We just need someone better than Taysom and Siemian throwing them the ball.