SALT LAKE CITY — Former BYU quarterback Taysom Hill is set to return to the New Orleans Saints for his fourth NFL season, as the league’s deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets with another team passed Friday.
There were no offer sheets extended to any restricted free agents this year, including Hill, a fact potentially impacted by the league’s visitation restrictions brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Hill was the lone NFL restricted free agent who had a first-round tender placed on him this year. He had yet to sign the tender — valued at $4.641 million, per Over the Cap — as of Friday.
Hill is expected to sign the tender and serve as the team’s backup this season. All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees agreed to a reported two-year, $50 million deal, per ESPN, earlier this offseason to return for his 15th season in New Orleans.
Hill is seen as a potential successor for the 41-year-old Brees. He also will continue to serve in his role as a utility player on offense and special teams, Saints coach Sean Payton said last month.
“Taysom’s earned this opportunity to be our 2. But he’s also earned the opportunity to play and help us win football games as a 1,” Payton told WWL Radio’s Bobby Hebert and Kristian Garic. “Whether you call him a tight end, receiver, a specialist, a quarterback, he’s going to play. He’s too good of a football player — he’s one of our better football players.”
Hill will now become an unrestricted free agent next offseason, unless New Orleans reworks his contract to a long-term deal. He could also be traded. If Hill’s 2020 contract isn’t reworked, his $4.641 million base salary is nearly triple what he earned in his first three seasons combined ($1.67 million, per Over the Cap).
Hill, who turns 30 in August, shared excitement in February about the possibility of continuing to mentor under Brees, the 2010 Super Bowl MVP and 13-time Pro Bowler.
“I look at Drew coming back, and maybe I’m not playing quarterback, which is ultimately where I want to have an opportunity to play in the NFL, but there’s still going to be opportunities for me to make plays,” Hill told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.