Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

In the vast history of professional football, those who ventured too far from the status quo were often written off as unsustainable. At the same time, being on the bleeding edge of innovation has been the key to sustained success in the NFL. The main difference between the gimmicks and the sound schematic breakthroughs has always been numbers. Can I get more blockers than the defense has defenders? Can I get more receivers in an area than defenders in coverage? If the numbers are even, can my players beat their players? Sound schematic football is any scheme that helps you answer ‘yes’ to the questions above. If a scheme solely relies on the element of surprise to succeed, it’s not going to last.

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The ‘wildcat’ is one of the most famous examples of a gimmick. It was based on the idea that the quarterback’s role on running plays was a waste, so removing him gave the offense an extra blocker. However, defenses quickly realized that there was no threat of the downfield pass, so they brought all the safeties in the box, which took back the numbers advantage, and the wildcat went the way of the Dodo.

It was a gimmick because it relied on the element of surprise to be successful. However, the wildcat’s demise gave way to the rise of option football, a schematically sound brand of football that utilizes the quarterback to manipulate and potentially remove a defender from either a run or pass play (you can read more about why run options and run-pass options are successful here). The caveat is that it takes an athletic quarterback to make defenses respect all the options. If you have a limited pocket passer, an entire section of the playbook is off-limits.

That is unless you have someone like Taysom Hill. The former BYU quarterback, who was an undrafted free agent in 2017, couldn’t quite hack it under center in Green Bay and was cut before last season. The New Orleans Saints then picked him up and utilized his incredible athleticism (he ran a 4.44 weighing 230 pounds and had a 38.5” vertical at his pro day) on special teams. With Hill on the roster for a whole offseason, Head Coach Sean Payton had the vision to see Hill’s skill set as more than a failed dropback passer.

The New Orleans Saints team is mostly unchanged from a season ago, yet they are on pace to have the third-highest scoring offense in NFL history. Hill isn’t the only driving force behind this, but it’s incredible how much value a player who’s seen all of 113 snaps can bring.

The key has been when he’s utilized. Payton often brings Hill in at quarterback in the most high-leverage situations that occur throughout a football game. Of his 35 snaps at quarterback, 24 have either come on third or fourth down or in the red zone. Options are tremendous in short yardage situations because it forces unblocked defenders to freeze for a split second to figure out who has the ball instead of attacking into the backfield. That’s glaringly obvious on the play below.

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On a 3rd and 2, the unblocked defender tasked with bringing the quarterback down is standing still at the line of scrimmage as Hill pulls the ball down. All Hill needs to do is barrel straight ahead, and he’s undoubtedly going to fall forward for the first down. Plays like that are the most volatile situations for Expected Points Added (EPA is a way of measuring play success based on down/distance/field position) and having someone to execute them successfully is enormous. With Hill lined up at quarterback, the Saints have averaged 0.237 EPA per run (32 runs) and 0.517 EPA per pass (three passes). The league-wide EPA per run play is -0.09 EPA for runs and 0.05 for passes. Even an offense as explosive as the Saints has only averaged -0.01 EPA per run and 0.36 on pass plays. Put simply; Hill has been a cheat code for the Saints when they’ve needed it most.

The whole reason the wildcat fell out of favor – no respectable threat of the pass – is the same reason Hill isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Even with an incredibly high imbalance of runs versus passes with Hill in the game, teams can’t completely ignore the threat of the pass. He may not be able to run any of the same passing plays as Drew Brees, but if you pull your safeties up to account for his running ability, Hill can still easily hit open receivers down the field. On Hill’s 44-yard pass below on a 2nd and 9 against the Vikings, you can see all 11 defenders line up within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage at the snap.

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Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

Seem's like a lot of other teams are trying their hands at variations of SP's Taysom Hill usage.

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

Something else that Taysom does well that doesn't get mentioned a lot is he's a good blocker. He finds his blocking assignment and takes his man out of the play every time he's asked to block. So, when he's lined up at TE, Slot, WR, or FB he's not just an offensive target, he's an effective blocker. And that aspect of Taysom's game has yet to be duplicated by a situational run-threat QB... at least none that I'm aware of.

Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

We will look back on this day as a point in time when New Orleans changed the game.

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

I think using Hill would be even more effective if they took Brees off the field entirely when he is in there at QB. Does anyone think Brees is actually going to run a route and catch a pass? Having him line up as a receiver basically takes the pressure off that side of the defence. JMHO.....

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

With the season going so well and his importance to the short yardage offense, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he wasn't used on special teams anymore. Less exposure to injury. Now, I'm perfectly fine with him being the only player in Super Bowl history to throw a pass, have a carry, have a catch, return a kickoff, and make a tackle. :)

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

He’s such a big unit (but also athletic) we could almost use him as a TE.

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

Been saying this all year. Take Drew out when Hill is under center. It's a complete waste of a player. And putting a WR out there would make things even more difficult.

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

Maybe that's a package that's hidden and ready to go for the SB! :bng:

Re: Examining Sean Payton's creative use of Taysom Hill
 

Could be, but I just dont see Drew doing a Tom Brady. Who knows though....might be fun to watch!

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