Saints head coach Dennis Allen said the team is trying out Taysom Hill at yet another position on offense.
Since arriving to the New Orleans Saints in 2017, Taysom Hill has been used in a variety of positions and situations, including at quarterback, tight end, and on special teams. And ahead of the 2024 NFL season, Saints head coach Dennis Allen is trying Taysom Hill at another position: fullback.
Fullback, in many ways, is a position of a bygone era, although Hill, at 6 feet 2 inches and 221 pounds, could serve as a good, athletic spin on a relatively seldom-used position.
Allen, who is entering his third season as Saints head coach, told Kay Adams on ‘Up & Adams' that he was using Hill at fullback because the BYU alum “can do everything.”
“That’s what creativity does, you bring in some new thoughts, new ideas. They see the player in a different way,” Allen said of the fullback experiment. “I think sometimes when you do the same thing over and over, you can just get caught in that rut of ‘this is what this guy does,' and he’s more than just a ‘wildcat’ quarterback. He can do a lot of different things, he can line up as a tight end, he can line up as a wide receiver, he can line up as a tailback, he can line up as a fullback, he can block, he can catch, he can run. So if he can do all those things, let's figure out how we can put him in positions to do that, and I think (Saints offensive coordinator) Klint [Kubiak has] done a great job of being able to do that.”
Adams also asked about the possibility of Hill moving over to defense, a decision Allen indicated former Saints coach Sean Payton, the team's offensive play-caller, nixed.
“I’ve thought about that. Early on, we kind of thought about making him a Sam linebacker. I’m not kidding, we talked about that,” Allen said before explaining that it did not happen because “the head coach at the time wasn’t giving up anything.”
Hill, who turns 34 years old tomorrow, has accumulated all kinds of stats in his seven years in the NFL. The Idaho native has earned 27 rushing touchdowns and 2,159 yards in his career, in addition to 11 receiving touchdowns and 756 yards. He also has 11 passing touchdowns and 2,348 yards, the latter being mostly contained to the 2020 and 2021 seasons when he threw for 928 and 978 yards, respectively. Over the past two seasons, Hill has only attempted 30 total passes.
The Saints are set to open the season on Sept. 8 vs. their NFC South rival Carolina Panthers.
