Hill gets 4-year extension

The Saints and Taysom Hill agreed to a 4-year extension, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. The deal reportedly pays Hill a $40 million base salary for the hybrid role he's currently playing. He can make up to $55 million more if he becomes New Orleans' starting QB. The team's handling of Hill has been curious, starting him over Jameis Winston last season and then keeping him behind Trevor Siemian the past 3 weeks.

Saints TE Taysom Hill (ribs) returned to practice on Monday. Following an absence of about 10 days, he wore a red, non-contact jersey, per reporter Katherine Terrell. Hill’s only draftable in deep formats or best ball leagues where he’s listed at TE, in hopes that he'll see some time at QB.

Saints weapon Taysom Hill injured his ribs in Thursday's practice, HC Dennis Allen said. Allen said Hill will miss some time but didn't give an exact timetable. We'll see when he's able to get back out there. Hill is expected to play a hybrid TE/gadget role this season.

New Saints HC Dennis Allen talked about his team's plans for Taysom Hill this season. "It's going to be very similar to what we've seen in the past," Allen said. "He's going to provide multiple roles for us. There'll be a lot of working with the TE grouping, but yet he'll still take some snaps from the QB position. We're still going to utilize him in that role." Hill is an intriguing fantasy prospect now that he's listed at TE on most commissioning sites. If he sees just a few targets per game -- but also adds a few carries, including near the goal line -- he could provide some TE1 weeks.

New Saints HC Dennis Allen said Tuesday that QB Taysom Hill will have a role shift in 2022. According to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football, Hill will focus primarily on TE this year. Hill has just 34 career receptions, with more than half of those (19) coming in 2019. He, of course, has played varied roles for the Saints in his time. If you play DFS, you might remember 2 years ago when Hill got the surprise start over Jameis Winston at QB after Drew Brees went down and carried a TE designation on FanDuel. We'll see how league-hosting sites elect to treat Hill in 2022. We wouldn't bet on him attaining regular fantasy relevance at any position, though -- barring an injury to Winston and return to starting QB. Adam Trautman should be the team's lead TE.

Saints insider Nick Underhill reports that HC Sean Payton is retiring. Payton has been at the helm in New Orleans since 2006, leading the Saints to an incredible 13 top-10 finishes in total offense. He's 1 of the best offensive minds in the game, so this is a big loss for guys like RB Alvin Kamara and WR Michael Thomas. We're also curious to see what the new coaching staff's plans are for Taysom Hill.