Saints reportedly elect to start Taysom Hill at QB instead of Jameis Winston with Brees out

[True Dough]

For the record, I'm a big fan of Taysom Hill in terms of his versatility. I don't know if making him the starting QB over Winston is the wisest coaching decision but, why not? If he's doing terribly early on, they can always replace him.


METAIRIE, La. -- The New Orleans Saints will start Taysom Hill at quarterback ahead of Jameis Winston on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Meanwhile, they placed starter Drew Brees on injured reserve Friday afternoon -- meaning he must miss at least three games while recovering from cracked ribs and a punctured lung.

Hill took all the starter reps at practice this week, according to the source. A source also told ESPN's Dianna Russini that Winston will not be part of any offensive packages unless needed because of injury. The move comes as a mild surprise, because Winston is more experienced and replaced Brees during the second half of last Sunday's 27-13 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

No timetable has been set for Brees' return. This is the first time he has been placed on IR, and this will be just the seventh game he has missed due to injury in his 20-year career.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30353678/source-taysom-hill-not-jameis-winston-start-qb-new-orleans-saints

[Marcuse]

1. Saints need to see how Hill performs. His contract balloons to $15M in 2021

Plus he is 30 years old. Winston is a known quantity.

[True Dough]

2. Didn't realize that about his contract status

That would very likely be a factor, yes.

[True Dough]

3. So he finished the day

18 of 23 for 233 yards. No passing TDs, but also no interceptions.

He did run in a couple of touchdowns, however.

Link to tweet

Not a bad performance for his first start!

[Cuthbert Allgood]

4. That sucks for Fantasy Football.

He is eligible for Tight End, so some teams got to have two QBs this week.

[True Dough]

5. Not in either of my leagues

I checked, and he was only designated as a QB. Both Yahoo leagues. But for anyone who could take advantage of that, it would be a big advantage, for sure.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

6. ESPN still had him as TE eligible.

I did get a notice yesterday that his TE designation was going to go away since he seems to be the starter they are going to fo with.