Taysom Hill Says Saints Return Is ‘Not in the Cards’ After Nine Seasons in New Orleans
Taysom Hill is closing the book on his New Orleans Saints career.
The 35-year-old announced in a post to X on Wednesday that he will not be returning to the Saints for the 2026 season. Hill described his time in New Orleans in warm terms but made it clear that returning was “not in the cards” for a 10th year.
Hill became an unrestricted free agent in March and has not yet announced whether he plans to keep playing with another team or hang up the cleats. His statement stopped short of confirming retirement, which is worth noting. He may still have another chapter of NFL football ahead of him.
The end of the Hill and Saints era feels overdue and also weirdly sad at the same time. He has been one of the most unique players in modern NFL history. He was a backup quarterback, a tight end, a running back, a wide receiver, a special teams weapon, and pretty much anything else the coaching staff needed on a given Sunday. He was a legitimate playmaker at multiple positions, which almost never happens at the NFL level.
Sean Payton discovered Hill and turned him into a Swiss Army knife. Payton left the Saints years ago, but the Hill role persisted through multiple coaching changes because his skill set was too valuable to give up on. He would run a wildcat play here, block on a screen pass there, catch a touchdown, and then be a personal punt protector on special teams. Nothing about his usage was normal.
The production backed it up. Hill scored 47 total touchdowns during his Saints career across rushing, receiving, and passing. He filled in as the starting quarterback when Drew Brees was hurt and led the Saints to wins. He was voted a Pro Bowler as a “flex” position player, which was a made-up category that essentially existed just for him.
The reason this is ending now is timing. Hill turned 35 in August, and the Saints are trying to transition to younger players at every position. Kellen Moore’s staff has a different philosophy on roster construction, and paying a versatile veteran for reduced snaps was probably not the best use of cap space anymore.
For the Saints, this ends a truly one-of-a-kind era. There will not be another Taysom Hill any time soon. The NFL is too specialized for a player to hold down that many roles the way Hill did. His contract, his usage, and his career arc were all unusual, and losing him closes a distinctive chapter of New Orleans football.
For Hill himself, the question is what comes next. He has BYU quarterback traits and could theoretically hop on with a team as a backup quarterback or Swiss Army knife guy. Teams like the Broncos or Falcons that could use veteran depth might sniff around. Or he could just walk away and enjoy retirement.
My guess is he keeps playing. Guys with his kind of energy and love for football usually cannot walk away easily. Someone will give him another shot in a smaller role.
Wherever he ends up, Saints fans should be thanking him. He was a fun player to watch, a team-first guy, and a real cornerstone of New Orleans football for nine seasons. Not many players get to say that.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
