Fantasy football doesn’t often have position controversies. Sure, every few years there is a player who makes the midseason switch from receiver to running back, or vice versa. We’ve seen it with the likes of Cordarrelle Patterson and Ty Montgomery, and those have always passed with little fanfare.
But over the last few seasons, there has been one player whose position has been ever-changing and truly difficult for major fantasy providers to pin down. That would be Taysom Hill.
Hill has been a true Swiss Army knife role player as both a quarterback and a do-it-all gadget weapon for the Saints. He has seen action on offense and special teams and has been asked to fill a lot of roles for the team. That has made it hard for many to classify his exact position.
Many thought it was determined in 2020 when Hill saw plenty of action at tight end. After he started a game at quarterback, however, fantasy providers had to make a significant change to his position to avoid any one team having an unfair advantage.
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Before the 2021 season, that seemed to be resolved. Hill was a quarterback and that was that. But ahead of this season, the Saints officially moved Hill to tight end, which was supposed to be his full-time position.
Once again, however, it appears that his position is up for debate. Right now he remains a tight end, but is he really one? A deep dive into his stats and snaps showcase exactly what Hill is at this point in his career.
Taysom Hill’s position in most year-long fantasy football positions is tight end. ESPN, Yahoo and NFL Network’s fantasy apps all have Hill locked into the tight end spot, which is no surprise.
Entering the season, the Saints had effectively declared the Hill experiment at quarterback over. They renegotiated his contract to make him one of the league’s highest-paid tight ends and signed Andy Dalton to back up Jameis Winston. The quarterback room was supposed to consist of Winston, Dalton and Ian Book with Hill battling for snaps at the tight end position full-time.
It was presumed that Hill might still have a small role as a wildcat quarterback, but he wasn’t expected to play in the backfield as much as he did when Sean Payton was coaching. Instead, he would focus on being a versatile weapon at tight end and on special teams. That’s why he was listed as a tight end on the Saints’ official depth chart.
Thus, most major fantasy providers listed Hill as a tight end, presuming that he would have a chance to battle for the starting job. He did put up a fight at tight end, but in recent weeks, he has found himself in a familiar role as a gadget weapon for the Saints’ offense. And for the most part, he hasn’t played at the tight end spot in 2022.
That has led to much frustration among fantasy football managers. There are many who think that Hill should have his position changed to more accurately reflect where he plays. They will point to major DFS providers like DraftKings that now have Hill listed as a quarterback after initially listing him as a tight end.
Meanwhile, others believe that the year-long fantasy providers shouldn’t pull a midseason position switch for Hill. Why? Because many have already used waiver claims and resources to acquire Hill and there was no stipulation put into place that his position would be changed if he played quarterback. ESPN had that in place during the 2020 NFL season, so when Hill started at quarterback, his position was changed from QB/TE to just QB.
Certainly, both sides have their case regarding Hill. But when breaking down his overall usage and stats, it’s abundantly clear that he is not a tight end.
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Hill is currently one of the most versatile players in the NFL. He has played numerous positions on offense and special teams and figures to continue to be a do-it-all threat for the Saints.
In total, Hill has played 122 snaps through six games. Below is a breakdown of the positions he has played, per PFF, as well as the percentage of snaps he has taken at each:
So, while Hill may be listed as a tight end, he has taken more snaps at quarterback than any other position. His usage there picked up in wake of Winston’s injury issues — 26 snaps from Weeks 4-6 after playing 10 snaps there in Weeks 1-3 — but he figures to continue on in that wildcat-type role during the rest of the season even when Winston returns.
As for the traditional, inline tight end spot, Hill has only played 16 total snaps there. And even if you include his receiver snaps along with those, his combined snaps as a pass catcher (31 total) are still fewer than his snaps at quarterback.
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Need further proof that Taysom Hill isn’t actually a tight end? Just look at his stats from this season.
Despite playing 72 offensive snaps for the Saints, Hill has logged just a single catch for two yards. That came in New Orleans’ season opener against the Falcons. Since then, he not only doesn’t have a catch but hasn’t been targeted at all.
Hill has done much more damage as a runner this season with the Saints, and he even has more pass attempts than he does targets. Below are his stats through six weeks.
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It’s pretty clear that Hill’s role with the Saints isn’t that of a tight end. That said, it’s hard to give him an actual positional designation given that he plays all over the field.
Hill is a unique study in that while most NFL teams have some versatile players, few use them as often or in as many important situations as Hill. And even fewer of them take snaps at the quarterback position. But Hill is capable of that, so that makes his fantasy position tough to nail down.
This is especially true since the Saints list Hill as a tight end. If they listed him primarily as a quarterback, fantasy providers would likely keep him in that position. But New Orleans’ official depth chart doesn’t even contain Hill at the quarterback position; it has on it Dalton, Winston and Jake Luton. Hill is listed as a co-starter at tight end with Adam Trautman, just like he was at the beginning of the 2022 NFL season.
As such, unless Hill starts a game at quarterback this season, he will probably be left with his tight end designation. Why? Simply put, it’s because that’s what the Saints list him as. Providers tend not to deviate from that unless a clear positional change is made. Hill might be more of a wildcat QB/goal-line back, but his snap counts at those two positions aren’t significant enough to warrant a wholesale change yet.
That gives Hill a lot of upside at tight end, a position that often lacks depth and high-end talent. And while calling him a primary tight end may be akin to calling Nyheim Hines a slot receiver, it seems like that is where his designation will stay in 2022.