New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis didn't divulge a lot of information in the team's pre and post-draft press conferences, but one brief comment stood out after we went and listened to it again. When asked about star tight end/quarterback/wide receiver/fullback/special teams ace Taysom Hill, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear last December, Loomis spoke with a bit of an ominous tone about the 34-year old pro.
"Well, look, he had a serious knee injury, so it's gonna be a while," Loomis said.
Hill's salary cap hit remains second-highest on the team, at $17,986,500, only trailing behind Derek Carr ($20,462,000). He hasn't taken the same steps to retirement as we've seen with Ryan Ramczyk, who reduced his base salary to the minimum before making that announcement (just like Drew Brees, Malcolm Jenkins, and a few others did before him). So that suggests Hill isn't ready to hang his cleats up just yet.
At the same time, it's a scenario the Saints may need to prepare for. If Hill does retire this summer then they would likely process his departure after June 2, leaving behind $7,896,500 in dead money on this year's salary cap while deferring another $9,723,000 to next year's books. He'll be 35 when the season starts and is coming off an injury which has ended the careers of younger players.
This is also the last year of his contract. If Hill intends on playing out this deal as written, it would cost the Saints an extra $10 million to keep him than cut him. There's nothing to be done about that $9.7 million salary cap hit in 2026, which will come due whether or not he's on the team this season. Restructuring him, which the Saints could have done at any point, would only reduce his 2025 cap hit to about $12.2 million while raising the dead money owed next year to as much as $16.7 million. That's not insignificant no matter how high the salary cap rises.
Whether that's worth it is debatable, but the Saints don't appear to be rushing into that decision. They're projected to have more than $20 million in cap space after signing their rookie draft class so they don't need an answer right away. With Hill still recovering from a major injury, they're willing to wait on him and let him end his career how he chooses.
Hill has done a lot for the team in his 8-year career: running for 2,437 yards and 33 touchdowns while gaining 943 yards as a receiver, with 11 touchdown catches; he's also thrown for 2,369 yards with 11 touchdown passes; on special teams, he's gained 489 yards on 14 kick returns and been credited with 13 tackles (4 assists), a fumble recovery, and two blocked punts. He's a unique player in a unique situation. Hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of No. 7.
