With Jameis Winston out for the year, New Orleans is likely turning to Taysom Hill at quarterback, and I’m intrigued. I think he could have a lot of above-average Sundays in the second half of the season.
Hill isn’t polished passer, of course. But as a runner, he’s a force – a physical tackle breaker who’ll regularly score touchdowns on his own. Overall, I think we could be looking at another Jalen Hurts kind of guy. And those kind of quarterbacks tend to grade out very well in fantasy leagues.
What Hill brings to the table, I think, is more than what they would get out of Trevor Siemian, who’s maybe a little better as a passer but doesn’t have the running ability. And rookie Ian Booker isn’t ready to be a factor, I think. Hill has missed the last two games after suffering a concussion, but reports indicate he’s expected to be back in Week 9.
We have a sample of Hill’s work from last year, of course. He started four games, and he went 3-1 in those starts. His passing numbers were modest – 209 yards per game, with 4 TDs – but he also averaged 52 rushing yards in those games, with another 4 TDs.
Blend those numbers together, and the per-game rates indicate Hill produced at a top-10 level. (That’s using standard scoring and comparing Hill to quarterbacks who started at least half of last year.)
| QUARTERBACKS PER START (2020) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Pass | TDP | Rim | TDR | Pts |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 16 | 284.0 | 2.31 | 26.3 | .56 | 29.5 |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 15 | 316.0 | 2.53 | 20.5 | .13 | 29.2 |
| Kyler Murray, Ariz. | 16 | 248.2 | 1.63 | 51.2 | .69 | 28.2 |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 16 | 268.7 | 3.00 | 9.3 | .19 | 27.5 |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 16 | 301.4 | 2.06 | 27.8 | .19 | 27.3 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 16 | 263.3 | 2.50 | 32.1 | .13 | 27.2 |
| Justin Herbert, LAC | 15 | 289.1 | 2.07 | 15.6 | .33 | 26.5 |
| Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 15 | 183.8 | 1.73 | 67.0 | .47 | 25.8 |
| Taysom Hill, N.O. | 4 | 208.5 | 1.00 | 52.3 | 1.00 | 25.7 |
| Tom Brady, T.B. | 16 | 289.6 | 2.50 | .4 | .19 | 25.6 |
| Ryan Tannehill, Ten. | 16 | 238.7 | 2.06 | 16.6 | .44 | 24.8 |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 16 | 266.6 | 2.19 | 9.8 | .06 | 24.1 |
| Gardner Minshew, Jac. | 8 | 260.1 | 1.88 | 16.4 | .13 | 23.1 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 16 | 286.3 | 1.63 | 5.8 | .13 | 22.3 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 12 | 218.3 | 1.33 | 23.0 | .42 | 21.9 |
| Joe Burrow, Cin. | 10 | 268.8 | 1.30 | 14.2 | .30 | 21.9 |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 15 | 253.5 | 2.20 | .7 | .00 | 21.8 |
| Derek Carr, L.V. | 16 | 256.4 | 1.69 | 8.8 | .19 | 21.7 |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 9 | 228.3 | 1.78 | 21.3 | .11 | 21.6 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 12 | 245.2 | 2.00 | -.2 | .17 | 21.2 |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 15 | 263.5 | 1.33 | 6.6 | .27 | 20.9 |
| Teddy Bridgewater, Car. | 15 | 248.9 | 1.00 | 18.6 | .33 | 20.4 |
| Cam Newton, N.E. | 15 | 177.1 | .53 | 39.5 | .87 | 20.3 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 16 | 255.3 | 1.63 | 7.0 | .00 | 20.2 |
| Baker Mayfield, Cle. | 16 | 222.7 | 1.63 | 10.3 | .06 | 19.2 |
| Philip Rivers, Ind. | 16 | 260.6 | 1.50 | -.5 | .00 | 19.1 |
| Drew Lock, Den. | 13 | 225.6 | 1.23 | 12.3 | .23 | 19.0 |
| Andy Dalton, Dall. | 9 | 228.8 | 1.56 | 12.7 | .00 | 18.9 |
| Nick Mullens, S.F. | 8 | 266.0 | 1.25 | 1.3 | .00 | 18.7 |
| Tua Tagovailoa, Mia. | 9 | 200.6 | 1.22 | 12.1 | .33 | 18.4 |
| Daniel Jones, NYG | 14 | 210.2 | .79 | 30.2 | .07 | 17.2 |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 12 | 184.0 | .75 | 18.1 | .17 | 15.2 |
The Saints aren’t a contender, but they’ll cause problems for a lot of opponents. They’ve got a good defense, and this unconventional style of offense will cause defenses that don’t know how to play against it – it’s like a knuckle-ball pitcher in baseball. They averaged 175 rushing yards in their four Taysom games last year, with at least 3 offensive touchdowns in all of those games (9 TD runs, 4 TD passes in those games).
For fantasy purposes, Hill looks like a big upgrade over Baker Mayfield, among many others.
—Ian Allan