5 reasons that could explain why the Saints are going with Taysom Hill over Jameis Winston

OK, so the Saints are serious about this whole Taysom Hill thing. With Drew Brees sidelined, it was assumed that Jameis Winston would be starting for the next few games but it’s now looking like the world’s most expensive QB3 will be elevated to the top of the depth chart. 

After giving Hill a majority of the first-team reps at practice, the Saints will reportedly give the 30-year-old quarterback of the future his first career start. The BYU product has attempted only 18 passes in his career and has never thrown a touchdown in regular season play. With the Saints in a battle for the No. 1 seed, which is far more important now that only one team gets a first-round bye in each conference, it’s a risky move and one that left a lot of people asking “why?” 

I don’t have a definitive answer to that question, but I do some have some theories. Here are five possible explanations for the Saints choosing Hill over Winston …

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The Saints have been in salary cap for about a decade now and it’s never really impacted their ability to construct the roster. But the reckoning could be coming this offseason when the NFL salary cap is expected to drop to around $175 million. Based on a cap number of $198 million, the Saints would enter the offseason $68 million over the cap, so a $23 million reduction in the cap would deal a serious blow to the front office. So what does this have to do with the “Hill v. Winston” decision? Well, Winston has $1.8 million in playing time incentives included in his one-year deal with the team. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money but New Orleans will have to cut as many financial corners as possible, so this could very well be a financial decision.

Sean Payton clearly has an affinity for Hill, but I wouldn’t discount the possibility of the front office pressuring him into playing Hill after it gave the backup quarterback a deal that included $16 million in guarantees. After all, the dude is 30. You can only play the “he’s still learning” card for so long.

I don’t know if the Saints actually view Hill as a viable long-term answer, but they do seem to have a lot of faith in him. And that faith, coming from an offensive wizard like Sean Payton, could be enough to convince another team that Hill has some potential. If he lights it up during Brees’ absence, New Orleans might even get a trade offer or two for Hill in the offseason. With two games against the woeful Falcons defense scheduled over the next three weeks, this would be the ideal situation for Hill to produce some eye-catching performances.

I’ve jokingly lobbied for the Saints to use a QB by committee approach with Brees handling the quick game plays, Hill coming in for red zone situations and Winston playing whenever they need to push the ball downfield. Maybe we’ll actually see some version of that with Hill, who does add value in the run game, handling early-down situations while Jameis comes in for obvious passing down. Football Nerd Twitter would implode if this actually happens.

They are paying him a lot of money so maybe Sean Payton’s Steven Young comparison is sincere. I just don’t see it. But, again, we’ve seen very little of Hill while Payton sees him in practice everyday. Maybe those practice reps will turn Hill into a more effective passer. I’m skeptical but at least we’ll get some answers.