Will Taysom Hill start over Teddy Bridgewater?

With Drew Brees out for at least six weeks, who should Sean Payton start at quarterback for the New Orleans Saints: Taysom Hill or Teddy Bridgewater?

The next few weeks will give us a better understanding of how the New Orleans Saints‘ season will go in 2019. Though the Saints are 1-1 through two games, they lost their greatest player in franchise history in quarterback Drew Brees to a thumb injury in Week 2’s road loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Should it be Taysom Hill or Teddy Bridgewater who starts in Brees’ absence?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Josh Hill, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz discussed the Saints’ plan going forward with who will be starting in place of Brees for the next month and a half: Hill or Bridgewater (34:23)?

Truthfully, there wasn’t much debate here between the guys. Both Schwartz and Verderame agree that Bridgewater should be the starter going forward and rightfully so. While they do like Hill as a gadget player, you can’t trust him to drop back and pass 25 to 35 times in a ball game to the level that Bridgewater can.

Keep in mind that Bridgewater did lead the Minnesota Vikings to the NFC Playoffs back in 2015 before his leg exploded in the last week of 2016 preseason. Bridgewater was an incredible pocket passer during his time at Louisville too, so look for the offense to resemble what it did with Brees in the shotgun.

As for Hill, we should expect his offensive package to expand. He’ll get his handful of plays each game as he normally does, but maybe a few more short-yardage and goal-line situations will go his way over Bridgewater. The former BYU star is a special player, but not one can consistently win from the pocket in the NFL.

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What is the bigger question is if the Saints will be able to get to 10 wins this year with Brees out for six of them (27:56)? Both Schwartz and Verderame have their doubts about the Saints getting to double-digit wins sans Brees for six weeks.

They cite that playing in a competitive division already probably has them hovering around .500. Schwartz isn’t sure if Bridgewater is any good anymore after the gruesome leg injury he suffered in Minnesota.

The consensus is that the archrival Atlanta Falcons are now the team to beat in the NFC South and the Saints still have to play them twice.

Fortunately for the Saints, their meetings with Atlanta will be after Brees’ tentative return date, but the question remains: will the Saints still be afloat by the time Brees gets back? Only time will tell.

Here are a few other topics that were discussed on Stacking the Box this week:

• Is the New York Giants starting Daniel Jones the right decision (0:55)?
• Can Mason Rudolph lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to the playoffs (6:45)?
• Will Cam Newton be the Carolina Panthers’ quarterback in 2020 (25:45)?
• Are the 2019 Miami Dolphins the worst team in NFL history (38:06)?

All this and more!

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