There have been some highlights from Taysom Hill’s four-game starting stint with the New Orleans Saints. But nearly every one of those bright moments has been punctuated with a momentum-killing fumble.
And the pace he’s on has to be concerning. Hill has fumbled 10 times in 13 games, and, again: he’s only seen four starts as the full-time quarterback. He hasn’t played often enough to warrant that sort of giveaway rate.
For perspective: Hill is in danger of breaking the team record Aaron Brooks set back in 2003, when he coughed up 14 fumbles in 16 games as the starting quarterback. Brooks fumbled 11 or more times each year from 2001 to 2004.
That isn’t exactly the sort of company Hill would like to join, and he doesn’t have Brooks’ success as a passer to outweigh the fumbles. Both of them pail in comparison to Drew Brees, who has only fumbled 10 times in a single season once, in 2009.
It’s clearly something Hill must clean up. Saints coach Sean Payton can talk him up as his next quarterback for life after Brees, but this is one flaw they can’t afford to live with.
