Ian Rapoport: Saints to make a decision on Taysom Hill; hard to imagine Hill returning [T.Hill is turning 35 w/ 18M cap hit & ACL recovery]

He's under contract for one more year with a $10M salary and an overall cap number of close to $18M (and another $9.7M in dead money for void years in 2026 & 2027) but none of his salary is guaranteed. I could see this going a few different ways, depending on what the new staff wants to do, similar to the Derek Carr situation.
  • Option 1, do nothing, playout the season. He'd count about $18M this year, and assuming he wasn't resigned would count $9.7 against the cap in 2026. (With their cap situation, this is probably the most unlikely scenario.)
  • Option 2, create cap space by converting salary to bonus. They could probably get his cap number down to about $10M for 2025, but absent an extension that would leave about $17.7M in dead money to hit in 2026.
  • Option 3, cut him pre June 1. He'd count $17.7M in dead money in 2025, but that would actually create a small cap savings ($277K).
  • Option 4, cut him post June 1. He'd still count close to $8M in dead money but would save $10M against the cap for 2025, and then would carry about $9.7M in dead money in 2026.
I would expect option 2 is most likely, but we'll see -- a lot will depend on how he and the team view his recovery.
I'd expect a pay cut or him being cut outright before a restructure on Taysom. We aren't going to spend that much new cash and kick the can for a player that we have no idea can even recover from his injuries enough to be close to the same guy as he was. It's the brutal part of being an injured older player in the NFL.