The Saints lost their do-it-all Swiss Army knife in today’s loss to the Rams. Veteran offensive weapon Taysom Hill was carted off with a knee injury, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that the injury is feared to be season-ending. 
Hill hasn’t had much of a history with injury during his NFL career, only missing multiple games due to injury in one of his seven previous seasons. Today’s injury, though, will likely force the BYU-product to miss the team’s remaining five games.
Hill’s role with the Saints has evolved over the course of his career. The versatile athlete was claimed off of waivers by New Orleans after initially signing with the Packers as an undrafted free agent. After not appearing much his rookie year, the Saints utilized Hill mostly in the rushing game, sparsely using him as a receiver or quarterback in 2018. 2019 saw him develop as a receiver, with Hill catching a career-high six touchdowns that year.
The 2020 and 2021 seasons saw Hill’s receiving impact reduced as he began finding starts at his college position of quarterback, making nine starts at the position in the two years combined. The team made use of his arm but mostly concentrated on his running ability, allowing him to rack up 13 rushing touchdowns in that time.
In 2022, Hill returned to a primarily rushing role, notching a career-high 575 rushing yards while adding on seven touchdowns on the ground and two receiving, matching his career high in total touchdowns. Last season showed perhaps his most versatile season as his 401 rushing yards (four touchdowns) and 291 receiving yards (two touchdowns) combined for the most scrimmage yards in a season for his career.
This year, Hill is the team’s second leading rusher with 268 yards while matching Alvin Kamara with six rushing touchdowns. In the receiving game, Hill is fifth on the team with 18 receptions and has added 150 yards to his scrimmage yard total. Juwan Johnson will continue to perform as the team’s primary receiving tight end, while Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller are sure to benefit from some additional touches in the run game.
Because of his history at BYU, Hill entered the league at 27 years old and is 34 today. The veteran is due a $10MM base salary in his 35-year-old season, and the Saints don’t have much incentive to cut him as it would only free up $277K in cap space and leave them with $17.71MM in dead money in his contract year. It will be interesting to see how a player of his age and usage will be able to rebound from such a severe injury, but if he can, he has every incentive to return in 2025.
The Saints will have Hill undergo an MRI in order to determine the severity of the injury, but all signs are currently pointing to the initial diagnosis of a season-ending knee injury. If confirmed, a move to injured reserve for the remainder of the season is likely in order to free up a roster spot.