Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, has been a coach in the NFL for over 30 years and probably has a lot of regrets, but the one he seems to regret most is parting ways with Taysom Hill, the Swiss Army knife of the New Orleans Saints.
On Thursday, McCarthy praised Hill’s abilities and called him “the one who got away.”
McCarthy said, “We thought he was a hell of a quarterback. Honestly, I think every year when you sit down at the end of training camp, I know I’ve done it like this: You have 58, 59, 60 different numbers every year. Of course, there are players that you feel like they really deserve to be on the 53. Taysom was one of those guys. He clearly played well. I think he led the league, the whole NFL, in rushing in the preseason. He played extremely well this year. Honestly, we thought we were going to try to push him to the practice squad. That took about two minutes.”
He added: “He’s still in New Orleans. His career, what he’s done, has been fantastic to watch from afar. He came in as an older player. Obviously very mature. I really liked him as a quarterback. It’s fun to watch him, as he was head coach Sean Payton back then and the way the offense does everything with him. I think like anything, the more value you can add, the longer the job security. He’s mastered that. He’s a weapon. He’s a weapon. He does a lot of things. He’s a bigger man than he was when I had him in Packers training camp. I thought he was a very good young quarterback candidate. That’s something to remember.”
McCarthy coached Hill during Green Bay Packers training camp in 2017. Former Packers general manager Ted Thompson and McCarthy disagreed on how to handle Hill’s potential spot on the team’s roster. While McCarthy felt they needed to find a spot for Hill, Thompson disagreed and thought Hill would get through the waivers and they could just sign him to their practice squad. Luckily for the Saints, they signed Hill off waivers the day after he was released, and the rest is history.
McCarthy will get one last chance to see up close and personal what could have been when the Saints face the Cowboys on Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
