Taysom Hill’s contract numbers this year include a $9.686 million signing bonus, a $1.439 million guaranteed roster bonus and a $1.034 million guaranteed base salary, plus incentives, per source. https://t.co/Ooy7akgPlv
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2021
Calm down, everyone: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the New Orleans Saints have restructured their contract with Taysom Hill in the wake of Drew Brees’ retirement, including $140 million over four years in a contract extension — but it’s funny money. Monopoly money. All of that money voids automatically for salary cap accounting purposes, making this an incredible troll towards anyone paying attention.
No, Hill is not going to earn $35 million a year. Schefter clarified that Hill’s restructure lowers his salary cap hit by more than $7.5 million, converting most of his $10.72 million base salary into a signing bonus spread out over the years of this new (automatically voiding) contract. The Saints were only about $12 million in the red anyway so now they’re nearly cap-compliant.
So why bother with that outrageous $140 million figure? Because the new years added onto the contract will void automatically, the Saints could have written anything they wanted; none of it is guaranteed or counting against the cap. Instead, in doing this they continued to preach the company line of viewing Hill as a franchise quarterback worth top dollar. They just aren’t actually paying him that.
Consider it a boost to morale with Jameis Winston likely returning to compete with him for the starting job. Hill didn’t show enough in his limited starts to win it outright, so if Winston re-signs or if the Saints bring in another quarterback, Hill is in for a tough contest to replace No. 9. This is just a small gesture to reaffirm the team’s belief in him while helping their salary cap outlook.
