Will a healthy Taysom Hill return as the starting quarterback for the struggling New Orleans Saints?

Taysom Hill has delighted BYU fans from the time he began his tenure in Provo in 2012 up until the present day with his NFL heroics.

The 35-year-old veteran returned to practice for the New Orleans Saints this week for the first time since tearing his ACL last December. And with his return comes some juicy speculations about what his role might be once he actually returns to the field. There is at least some postulating that he could see more time at quarterback this year than he has in the recent past.

The first bread crumb is that Taysom's is officially listed as a quarterback on the Saints team roster, not tight end or some other hybrid role.

Then come tidbits like this from ESPN's Saints reporter Katherine Terrell:

The phrase that Taysom "spent a lot of time this offseason in the QB room" is intriguing. After getting plenty of reps as a traditional quarterback in 2020 and 2021, the BYU legend has only attempted 34 passes over the last three seasons. It looked like the team had moved him full-time to a tight end-half back hybrid, so dedicating more time with the quarterbacks during his recovery is interesting.

Now consider this incredible stat from John Sigler, managing editor and lead writer at The Saints Wire:

If you're wondering who makes up the rest of the Saints quarterback room, it's second-year player Spencer Rattler who is 0-10 as a starting quarterback for New Orleans. Rookie Tyler Shough is on the active roster and has attempted just two passes this year. Veteran Jake Haener is on the practice squad and is 0-1 as a starting NFL quarterback.

It looks like Sigler counted Saints quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien and his brief, winless stint as a quarterback from his playing days to get to his final number of 0-16-1.

Now consider New Orleans hired a new coach this year in Kellen Moore for his first NFL head coaching gig. While the Saints are 0-4 this year, they play in the "meh" NFC South and could be right back in contention in the division with a couple of wins. No rookie head coach wants to tank right out of the gate and go something like 2-15 to begin his coaching legacy, so Moore may have some incentive to win now. Moore is known as an innovative offensive mind, so could he be considering giving Taysom more reps at quarterback in an attempt to actually win some games?

And lest we forget, Taysom Hill has been a good quarterback when given the opportunity for the Saints. On his career he has completed 193-of-302 passes - a solid 63.9% - with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. As stated in Sigler's post on X above, Hill's quarterback record is seven wins and two losses.

From a a strategy standpoint, putting Taysom under center is a massive plus for the Saints. He is a true dual-threat quarterback and opposing defenses have to scheme, prepare, and react to his elite running ability. Those preparations take time. The different on-field assignments accounting for a mobile quarterback put defensive players in uncomfortable positions. If defensive players commit to Taysom running, it gives him one less defender to account for in pass coverage. And if they drop into coverage, Hill can tuck the ball and run. Why wouldn't the Saints at least want to try that?

For now, Taysom playing quarterback for the Saints is just speculation.

But it's also beautiful speculation for those of us who are Taysom Hill fans.

At 35 years old his body is going to break down sooner than later if he keeps playing his current hybrid role and repeatedly smashing himself into loaded defensive boxes on third-and-2.

But if Taysom could remake himself into a mobile pocket quarterback, it could extend his career by years. It's not uncommon for quarterbacks in today's NFL to play well into their late thirties, and I hope that's the direction we're headed with BYU legend Taysom Hill.

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