posted a highlight video<\/a>, narrated by record-setting, Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Drew Brees, thanking Hill for his contributions to the franchise.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
On the eve of training camp, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said he had spoken to Hill, but wanted to keep those conversations private for the time being. The uncertainty surrounding those conversations lasted little more than a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs training camp begins, I didn\u2019t want my silence to be misinterpreted,” Hill said. “As hard as it is to put into words, I wanted to express my gratitude. To the city of New Orleans: thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill’s NFL career began as an undrafted free-agent QB with Green Bay during the 2017 offseason. When he was waived at the end of training camp, the Saints, then coached by Sean Payton, claimed him.<\/p>\n
Payton, now coaching the Denver Broncos, initially planed to groom Hill as a possible successor to Brees at QB. But not wanting to let the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Hill’s athleticism go to waste, the Saints decided to try him out on special teams as a returner, an upback on punts and covering kicks.<\/p>\n
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After Hill proved effective in those roles, he became a change-of-pace, running QB who also chipped in at running back, tight end and receiver, earning him the moniker of the Saints’ \u201cSwiss Army Knife.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn’t know where they were going to line him up,\u201d said Saints linebacker Kaden Ellis, who played against Hill while with Atlanta the past three seasons. \u201cAnd then, when he gets the ball, it’s a whole other issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saints coach Kellen Moore said Hill’s success led other clubs to explore whether they could incorporate a versatile skill player into their offenses in similar ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone for the last few years has been chasing \u2014 let’s find the next Taysom \u2014 and there’s really just one Taysom,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n
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While Hill never won a full-time starting QB job, he started nine times because of injuries. The Saints went 7-2 in those games.<\/p>\n
Hill now has career statistics of 2,554 yards and 34 touchdowns rushing; 2,426 yards and 12 TDs passing; and 1,034 yards and 11 touchdowns receiving. In 2023, Hill became the first NFL player in half a century to have 10 touchdowns rushing, passing and receiving.<\/p>\n
During his final home game for the Saints, Hill surpassed the career 1,000 yard mark as a receiver and also threw a touchdown pass. He waved goodbye to fans as he left the field after the game, saying he wasn’t sure if he’d play in the Superdome again.<\/p>\n
If he does, it’ll be in a different uniform.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTaysom\u2019s career to this point as a member of the Saints organization has been remarkable in all facets,\u201d Loomis said in a statement. \u201cHis intelligence, unique athletic ability, versatility and unselfishness have benefited this team in many facets for the past nine seasons. Additionally, he\u2019s been a great teammate, excellent leader and mentor.”<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NFL<\/a>\n<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE – New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill (7) reacts after an NFL football game against the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":960004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[13189,7,125706,7166,574,896,55,2572,2571,6,83966,27878,27876,115635,93579,120436,397,126616,1813,7762],"class_list":["post-960003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-orleans-saints","tag-drew-brees","tag-football","tag-kaden-ellis","tag-kellen-moore","tag-mickey-loomis","tag-new-orleans","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-neworleans","tag-neworleanssaints","tag-nfl","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32000-ap-online-football-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40789-ap-louisiana-sports-only","tag-saints","tag-saints-taysom-hill","tag-sean-payton","tag-taysom-hill"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117011947708196070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/960004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}