The legacy of Taysom Hill in New Orleans: 'There's only one'

METAIRIE, La. -- While the New Orleans Saints redistributed Taysom Hill's jersey No. 7 to quarterback Hunter Dekkers when training camp opened Wednesday, finding a player to replace Hill won't be as easy. In fact, coach Kellen Moore said it might be impossible. Moore pointed out that many NFL teams tried to copy the Saints' formula over the years, looking for one player who could play multiple roles like Hill did. Right now, they're still looking. "He's a guy that a lot of our guys are looking at as an example of growing in the NFL and finding roles and finding opportunities. Everyone's for the last few years been chasing, 'Let's find the next Taysom. But there's only one Taysom,'" Moore said. Hill announced Wednesday night that he would not be returning to New Orleans for a 10th season, leaving behind one of the most unique legacies in franchise history. The Saints claimed Hill off waivers from the Green Bay Packers in 2017, intending at minimum to get a core special teams player. Instead they found a player who was a throwback to the early NFL, when there were less specialists and more players who had multiple jobs. Hill could return kicks, run, throw, or pass for touchdowns, make tackles and even block punts. Former Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen once admitted he would have loved to have played him on defense, but then-New Orleans head coach Sean Payton drew the line at putting him on that side of the ball. "Early on we thought about making him a Sam linebacker. The head coach at the time wasn't giving anything up," Allen, when he was the head coach of the Saints, said in a 2024 interview with sportscaster Kay Adams. Hill spent almost a decade amassing weird and unusual statistics, drawing comparisons to NFL players such as Frank Gifford and Red Grange. Hill was in more meeting rooms than any other player, spending time with the quarterbacks, working on special teams and plugging in wherever Saints coaches needed him on offense. It worked because of his football IQ and unique background as a college quarterback at BYU (2012-16), said Saints linebacker Kaden Ellis, who was both Hill's teammate in New Orleans and his opponent after he signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Hill was not only hard to tackle because of a combination of size (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) and speed (He ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the combine), but because he had a different perspective on the field as a former quarterback. "You can take 99% of quarterbacks that ever played in the NFL, and although they may be the greatest athletes on the field, to be able to get their bodies to do a punt block, a kickoff return, block on kickoff return, to block as a tight end, to run a route as a tight end, to have the body control to adjust in the air, to do all those things, that's 1-of-1," Ellis said. When former quarterback Drew Brees ran the Saints offense, Hill could run the read option, convert short yardage plays and function as another receiver. But the New Orleans staff never quite figured out where to permanently play Hill in the post-Brees era after the 2020 season. Hill competed to be the Saints' starting quarterback one season and was moved to tight end the next. In 2023, the Saints considered an expanded role for him as a receiver, resulting in a career-best 33 catches for 291 yards and two touchdowns. "At the start of the week, he's like 'Man, am I going to be at receiver, am I going to be at tight end or quarterback? But he never complained," Saints tight end Juwan Johnson said. "That's one of the things I always valued about his character." By 2025, Hill worked mostly with the quarterbacks again as he attempted a comeback from a knee injury that almost sidelined him for the season. He played in 13 games and started five in 2025, and he finishes his New Orleans career having played in 118 regular-season games and six postseason games. "He's one of the best people you'll ever meet in this world. He's a phenomenal person, player, competitor. For him to come back from that injury the previous season was incredible," Moore said. Hill didn't rule out playing in 2026, potentially opening the door for at least one more unique season. But if Hill fails to play in the NFL again, Ellis doesn't think they'll see his likeness again, either. "Maybe there will be another one one day, but I don't see it any time soon. Because that was really, really special," Ellis said. "The man he is, is even more special."