When it comes to Taysom Hill's position on an NFL football team, it's usually more of a punchline than anything else. His position is football player.
The only problem? He's got to be listed somewhere, and that listing has changed the past two seasons. Prior to the 2022 season his grouping shifted to TE on the team's initial roster, he shed the red, non-contact jersey, and that's where he worked throughout camp.
But when the season came, he was anything but a TE as far as the game snaps were concerned. This time around he spent camp listed as a TE and working in as a passer in spurts. As of this week he's a QB again. The reason?
“Probably more of a clerical thing than anything else," head coach Dennis Allen said. "But Taysom took, I think, almost 50% of his snaps last year at the quarterback position. So I don’t know if there’s anything to that, other than he kind of plays a lot of different positions.”
It's certainly a fair point. Here's how Hill's 493 regular season snaps broke down in 2022:
- Special teams: 169
- QB: 148
- WR/Slot: 101
- Inline TE: 51
- Backfield (non-QB): 24
Given the timing of the move, most logical assumption would be that it was a decision made to maximize roster flexibility under the new emergency QB rule. Allen indicated that the move was not made with that in mind, but regardless it could play a factor down the stretch.
The NFL sent out an FAQ this week to address the new rule, which allows teams to have a third QB available to play that doesn't count against the 48 available active game-day slots. It was a rule change that was, at least in part, spurred by the 49ers' misfortune in the NFC Championship game a year ago when they ran out of healthy QBs and had to turn back to Brock Purdy, who was unable to throw effectively due to a significant elbow injury.
As far as Hill is concerned, the stipulation in play is that teams will only be allowed to designate an emergency QB if there are two "bona fide" QBs on the roster ahead of him. In the case of everyone being healthy, nothing would change in that regard.
But what if, say, Carr or Winston were injured and inactive? With Hill listed at TE, even if he was available that week in a backup role, it's possible he'd be exempted from the category of "bona fide" QBs, thus Haener being the only backup and ineligible for the emergency slot, regardless of intention.
The biggest impact will likely be felt in the fantasy football realm, where Hill's role made him the No. 3 TE in terms of total points last season. But if you had to start him at QB? No. 29 overall, just ahead of Baker Mayfield, who played in just 12 games.
For more specifics on the rule, click here.
The decision would also appear to solidify the status of rookie Jake Haener, who had an impressive preseason but will likely not see significant action this season (but could be the emergency third QB most weeks). That QB can only enter the game if the two players ahead of him are unavailable to play.
Regardless of where he's listed, Hill's role will be what it always was: A bit of everything. The bigger question for the 33-year-old this week is availability for Week 1 after missing multiple weeks of practice with an oblique injury. Hill returned to practice this week in a limited capacity, but Allen would not make any declarations as of Monday about Week 1 health. The first injury report of the season comes out on Wednesday, with the Saints opening their season against the Titans at the Caesars Superdome on Sept. 10.
