Veteran tight end Jared Cook arrived to the New Orleans Saints with much fanfare, but he’s taken a backseat to Josh Hill for much of his first season. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cook’s production has not suffered for it — his 9 touchdown grabs tie All-Pro wide receiver Michael Thomas for the team lead. Hill has only gained 226 receiving yards this season, which trails even converted quarterback Taysom Hill (234 receiving yards).
But as Saints coach Sean Payton tells it, Hill’s ability to execute nearly any block in the playbook and experience in a variety of personnel packages explains the discrepancy between Hill’s 649 snaps played (6th-most on the team) on offense against Cook’s 502 (11th-most).
“He’s a guy we use in the run game and pass protection. He does a lot of things well,” Payton said. “He plays on special teams, he plays a lot of snaps each week and he’s done so for quite a while.” In addition to Hill’s extended time when the Saints have the ball, he’s chipped in 182 snaps on special teams (8th-most for the Saints, just ahead of kicker Wil Lutz at 180).
Payton continued, “He’s someone that has real good athleticism and it’s difficult because a lot of different personnel groups might run through him. He might be in the base, he might be in 11 (personnel). Certainly, Jared (Cook) is playing a lot of snaps. The two of them together will play a lot of snaps. He’s one of those guys that does a lot of things well.”
