The New Orleans Saints were locked in an ugly grudge match with the Tennessee Titans to open up the 2023 NFL season on Sunday. The two struggling offenses traded turnovers and field goals for the first two and a half quarters while no touchdowns were scored. It was not a particularly fun game to watch.
The most interesting part of watching this game for the neutral viewer was how the Saints were going to operate with Derek Carr under center. Somewhat notably it seems this version of the New Orleans offense does not feature a ton of Taysom Hill, the Swiss Army Knife who was beloved by Sean Payton but has struggled to do much without his old head coach. Sunday's broadcast of Saints-Titans showed that Hill has another great admirer up in the CBS booth-- one Ross Tucker.
Tucker, one of many former player-turned-media-members, was on the call with Chris Lewis and Jason McCourty for CBS on Sunday. In the third quarter Tucker said, with all seriousness, that he believes Hill to be one of the greatest football players of all time. He didn't leave it at that, either. He went on to defend his statement and it is not any more convincing than it was when he first said it.
It's an extremely Football Guy take. The only people who believe Hill is anything more than a useful special teams player are former players and active coaches. In fairness, they believe this because they know better than anyone how hard it is to play one position in the NFL, much less several. For all the valid critiques of Hill that can be made it is objectively impressive that he is able to understand and execute the responsibilities of quarterback, running back, tight end, and various aspects of special teams at generally the same level.
The problem is that level is not very high! Hill is an impressive player who does not come around often in the NFL but he is no better than below-average at any of the roles the Saints have tasked him with over the years. It is hard to comprehend how anybody can call him one of the greatest football players ever with a straight face when he probably wouldn't start at any of the positions he's mastered on any team in the NFL.
Tucker kicking off the season with some scalding takes on the broadcast. He'll be hearing about this one for a while, too.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Ross Tucker Calls Taysom Hill 'One of the Greatest Football Players Ever' .
