New Orleans Saints: Finding a future franchise quarterback is paramount

The current predicament

For New Orleans this past year, the quarterback depth chart consisted of Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill, and all three of them are free agents.

Barring some change in free agency, Bridgewater will not be back in New Orleans, as he earned a huge contract worth at least $20M-$25M per year with his stellar play as a Saint.

The conundrum remains with Hill, as he made so many of his plays as a gadget player, lining up mostly as a blocker or receiver rather than under center.

Hill believes he can be an NFL starting quarterback, and the Saints should give him a contract that reflects it.

They shouldn’t pay him to a long-term expensive contract, but they could give him something in the neighborhood of $20M/season to secure his rights before another team tries to pry him from New Orleans.

Say the Saints have Hill and Brees for next season, Brees would have to take a huge pay cut, due to his dead money accumulating for a few seasons after 2020 and New Orleans trying to stay under the cap while maintaining talent across the board.

If Brees decided to walk away, then that opens the door for Hill to earn the starting spot in New Orleans and for the team to re-sign Bridgewater as either the starter or a mentor to Hill.