Steelers prepare to face Saints’ do-everything threat TE/QB/WR Taysom Hill

With the state of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense this season, it isn’t all that uncommon that their upcoming opponent would have a player who has more career wins as a quarterback than the Steelers’ starter.

It wouldn’t be notable, either, if an opposing player had twice as many touchdowns scored as any Steelers player.

Or that the visiting team’s second-leading rusher had almost as many yards (in almost one-third as many carries) as the Steelers’ workhorse featured back.

The New Orleans Saints, however, have one man who is all three of those things.

Taysom Hill is a do-everything chess piece for the Saints, a player the Steelers defense must be cognizant of during the teams’ scheduled meeting this Sunday.

“We know that when he’s in the game, we’ve got to lock in,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “He’s just a very uniquely talented guy.”

Steelers OLB Alex Highsmith on the challenge of facing Taysom Hill pic.twitter.com/1zBHw5ygCH

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 9, 2022

In his sixth NFL season, Hill has a 7-2 record as a starting quarterback. But he’s started 20 career games at other positions and this season for the first time his primary position has been designated as tight end.

There are some games, though, where he will play at both spots — and more.

“He’s a tight end, he’s a receiver, he’s a quarterback — he kind of does it all,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “And he does them well. The guy is explosive. He can throw it. He truly does it all. So he presents a lot of unique challenges when he’s on the field. Basically, where is he gonna be? What’s he gonna do? So that’s really something that’s really had us working overtime and try to figure that out.”

Steelers DC Teryl Austin on the challenge of preparing for Saints QB/TE/WR/RB Taysom Hill pic.twitter.com/3qrkOx1YyS

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 10, 2022

In 2022 according to Pro Football Focus, Hill has played 57 snaps at quarterback, 24 as a traditional in-line tight end, six at fullback, two at halfback, 16 in the slot and 25 as a wide receiver.

He has averaged 8.6 rushing yards per attempt with 343 on 40 carries. (Steelers starting running back Najee Harris just nips Hill with 361 yards on 108 carries, a 3.3-yard average).

Hill has scored six touchdowns (five rushing and one receiving); only 10 players across the NFL have more this season. The aggregate season total for players expected to appear on offense for the Steelers on Sunday is eight.

“(The Saints) have got some schematics that are really challenging when he’s playing at quarterback,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “but he’s also capable as a tight end or H-back, and they can do some more traditional things, some play-action passing, some misdirection passing, some run game. So we’ve got to put a thoughtful and intentional plan together regarding his usage in an effort to minimize his impact on the game.”

Hill, who also plays on punt coverage/return units, signed a unique contract for such a gadget-style player in 2021. It guaranteed him $22.5 million but could end up compensating him as much as $95 million over four seasons depending how much he plays and at what position.

The only time in his career he’s faced the Steelers, Hill played 10 snaps on offense during a December 2018 meeting when New Orleans still had Drew Brees at quarterback. Hill took three snaps at quarterback and seven as a receiver that day.

The Steelers in recent years have arguably fared better than any team that regularly has faced Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson at limiting his impact on a game. But Austin said that is of little solace or use in devising methods to defend Hill.

“Lamar is a full-time quarterback. This guy is playing everywhere,” Austin said. “Sometimes he’s playing receiver, sometimes he’s playing tight end. So it’s different. You can’t just pigeon-hole him and say, ‘OK, he’s a quarterback, he’s going to have the ball every time, here’s how we want to defend him.’

“There’s a lot of different places this guy lines up, so there’s a lot of different things that go into that. We will try to make sure we get our guys in the best position possible.”

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