On Thursday morning, Ben Roethlisberger officially announced his retirement after 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Roethlisberger said, “The time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats, and continue to be all I can be to my wife and children. I retire from football a truly grateful man.”
By doing so, it has now started up rumors of what his former team is going to do with the QB position going forward.
For nearly as long as he’s been an NFL player, Taysom Hill’s name has been tethered to Sean Payton. Now, the head coach has stepped away from the team and it leaves fans wondering what might happen with Hill.
Pittsburgh will have two veteran quarterbacks return for next season in Mason Rudolph and Dwyane Haskins. While both quarterbacks have starting experience, neither stands out as an appealing option as a full-time starter. Pittsburgh will likely target a rookie quarterback in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft, but they’ll need a starter ready to step in for the season opener.
As the New Orleans Saints enter a rebuild, they’ll need to trade several of their key players to trim down their payroll. Hill is looking like a likely candidate. NFL.com’s Nick Shook considers the Steelers to be “potential buyers” for the 31-year-old Hill.
“A favorite of Payton, the versatile veteran might be deemed expendable by whoever takes over in New Orleans,” says Shook. “Hill is a below-average passer set to earn high-end QB2 money, whose greatest strength is his running ability. And while we’re seeing more designed runs for quarterbacks these days, it’s unclear whether the new regime will view his playmaking value in line with his salary. That all said, finding a trade partner for Hill might be particularly challenging.”
Hill has proven to be a multi-dimensional threat as a quarterback, but never as an adequate quarterback. He failed to beat out Jameis Winston as the starting quarterback following Drew Brees’ retirement.
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Hill started the final five games of the season and threw for just four touchdowns against five interceptions while completing just 58.4% of his passes. The Saints did finish 4-1 in the games Hill started.
As of right now, the Steelers might just stick with who they have already on the team and ride this thing out until after the 2022 season.
