Taysom Hill is unlikely to dress out for the New Orleans Saints in Sunday’s Divisional round matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which was first reported by Katherine Terrell for the Athletic and confirmed by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Jane Slater — who added that Saints running back Latavius Murray is also expected to miss this playoff game. Slater reports that both players will test their injuries in pregame warmups, “but it’s not looking good.”
Hill suffered a knee injury in New Orleans’ Wild-Card Round win over the Chicago Bears, with Murray injuring a quad muscle. Both players were limited participants in practice during the week, resting for the first two sessions before making some progress on Friday’s injury report. But it doesn’t appear they’ve received clearance to play.
Losing them is tough. Hill wears many hats in the Saints offense, alternately lining up as a tight end, quarterback, slot receiver, and playing many other bit parts. He adds an element of versatility that’s tough to plan for. Murray is the most physical presence in the New Orleans backfield and an able No. 2 runner behind Alvin Kamara.
The only silver lining here may be that the Saints have enough depth in other utility players like tight ends Josh Hill and Adam Trautman and running back/wide receiver Ty Montgomery to adjust and keep the offense moving along. Still, it’s just an added hurdle of adversity for them to overcome and advance to the NFC Championship Game with the Green Bay Packers.
