Taysom Hill. Is he a tight end, a quarterback or something else? That question got a little more interesting on Sunday.
He ran for 112 yards and 3 TDs against the Seahawks, and he also threw a 22-yard touchdown, lifting the Saints past Seattle in a shootout. About the only thing he didn’t do is what tight ends are typically rewarded for in fantasy leagues: catch a pass.
This one is sure to ignite discussions in fantasy leagues about where Hill should be eligible. Early in the offseason, the Saints listed him as a quarterback, saying his multi-purpose days were over. Then they switched him to tight end, deciding they liked him more as a gadget player than as a true quarterback. (At camp, they decided they would start Jameis Winston at quarterback, with Andy Dalton as his primary backup.)
Hill gets a lot of short-yardage looks, providing serviceable numbers in weeks that he’s able to get into the end zone. On Sunday, he was a lot more.
Scoring systems vary, but in standard fantasy leagues, he was worth 34.3 points on Sunday. In the Super Bowl era, only three tight ends have scored more points in a game, and all did it prior to fantasy football making it into the mainstream.
Only 27 tight ends have scored 30-plus standard fantasy points in a game. Oddly, one of those was T.J. Hockenson, who put up his big numbers against this same Seattle defense last week (albeit in a completely different way).
Note, by the way, that below fantasy points assume standard scoring. In leagues using PPR scoring, all of those tight ends (and a few others) move past Hill.
| TIGHT ENDS SCORING 30 FANTASY POINTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player, Tm | Opp | Result | Points |
| 1981 | Kellen Winslow, S.D. | at Oak. | W 55-21 | 44.4 |
| 1972 | Rich Caster, NYJ | at Balt. | W 44-34 | 38.4 |
| 1985 | Jimmie Giles, T.B. | at Mia. | L 38-41 | 35.6 |
| 2022 | Taysom Hill, N.O. | Sea. | W 39-32 | 34.3 |
| 1983 | Kellen Winslow, S.D. | K.C. | W 41-38 | 34.2 |
| 1969 | Bob Trumpy, Cin. | at Hou. | T 31-31 | 33.9 |
| 2002 | Shannon Sharpe, Den. | at K.C. | W 37-34 (OT) | 33.4 |
| 1996 | Shannon Sharpe, Den. | S.D. | W 28-17 | 33.3 |
| 1983 | Todd Christensen, Rdrs. | at Sea. | L 36-38 | 33.2 |
| 2014 | Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | Chi. | W 51-23 | 32.9 |
| 1993 | Johnny Mitchell, NYJ | Phi. | L 30-35 | 32.6 |
| 2012 | Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | Den. | W 45-10 | 32.5 |
| 2005 | Antonio Gates, S.D. | K.C. | W 28-20 | 32.5 |
| 2020 | Darren Waller, L.V. | at NYJ | W 31-28 | 32.0 |
| 1983 | Todd Christensen, Rdrs. | at S.D. | W 42-10 | 32.0 |
| 2002 | Tony Gonzalez, K.C. | Mia. | W 48-30 | 32.0 |
| 1981 | Dave Casper, Hou. | Pitt. | W 21-20 | 31.9 |
| 2022 | • T.J. Hockenson, Det. | Sea. | L 45-48 | 31.9 |
| 2020 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | Hou. | W 51-31 | 31.4 |
| 1967 | Jim Whalen, Bos. | Mia. | W 41-10 | 31.4 |
| 2021 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | at LAC | W 34-28 (OT) | 31.1 |
| 2021 | Mark Andrews, Balt. | Ind. | W 31-25 (OT) | 30.7 |
| 2021 | George Kittle, S.F. | at Sea. | L 23-30 | 30.6 |
| 1989 | Keith Jackson, Phil. | at Was. | W 42-37 | 30.6 |
| 2013 | Vernon Davis, S.F. | Ariz. | W 32-20 | 30.0 |
| 1982 | Kellen Winslow, S.D. | Balt. | W 44-26 | 30.0 |
| 2012 | Vernon Davis, S.F. | N.O. | W 36-32 | 30.0 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan