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Quarterback New Orleans Saints Reserve Taysom Hill impressed fans, teammates and coaches in the second week of the pre-season. Hill replaced Teddy Bridgewater as a replacement shortly before half-time and allowed the Saints to return in the game, overcoming a 17-3 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers. Hill's abilities were fully visible as he ran and launched the Chargers' defense. Comparisons with Steve Young have been made.
This prompted Saints fans to wonder who should be the heir to Drew Brees, a Hall of Famer starter near the end of his NFL career. Bridgewater, 26, is the most conventional choice, and he has done well against the home defenses against the league. Hill, who turns 29 this week, may be more intriguing because of his athleticism and versatility, with experience from all positions, from slot machine gunners to special teams.
To fuel the fire, three-quarters are in the process of being released after the 2019 season. Brees and Bridgewater will be unrestricted free agents, but Hill's situation is different. He will be a restricted free agent next March and the saints have some options to use his services.
Limited free agents can be kept in public tender offers, each at different levels. The fully guaranteed one-year salary increases slightly from one tax year to the next (at a rate of between 5% and 10%), but what was available for the 2019 season:
$ 2.025 million. This offer gives the Saints a right of first refusal and compensation for a draw among the initial choices of the player. They can choose to match all contract offers that Hill receives.
$ 3.095 million. This offers a right of first refusal and compensation for a second round choice. That sounds a lot, but teams are generally preparing for quarterback prospects in this round (Drew Lock, DeShone Kizer and Christian Hackenberg among the recent selections). It would be easy to justify this on Hill, who already has NFL experience.
$ 4.407 million. The most valuable level guarantees the right of first refusal and compensation for a first round selection. This is rarely awarded because of its salary cap cost ($ 4.407 million each counting for the ceiling) and the low probability that the other teams will match, forgoing their first choice.
Because Hill entered the NFL as an unprepared BYU recruit (originally signed by the Green Bay Packers), the Saints will not receive any compensation if they give him the lowest bid. They can also avoid all this by entering into a long-term contract with Hill, as they did recently with kicker Wil Lutz.
It's too early to say what the saints are going to do, but it's a cautious bet, they will not let Hill go without at least trying to adapt the offers he receives. Given the lack of second-round picks in next year's project (after including it in a commercial package that eventually became the rookie center Erik McCoy and CJ Gardner-Johnson, security manager ) and the possibility that Bridgewater signs again after this year, could go with this offer in hopes of winning a replacement choice. But that assumes that saints like Bridgewater get along better, which is not safe at the moment.
The good news is that the saints have plenty of time to solve the problem. There are two more pre-season games and then one full practice band season to evaluate. There are many assumptions and questions – whether or not Brees withdraws, whether Bridgewater or Hill is the best option, if Bridgewater is willing to wait another year – even before choosing to make a offer to buy for Hill. But it's nice to know where they are at the beginning of the season.
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