By Ross Jackson
During the New Orleans Saints’ convincing victory over the Dallas Cowboys, there was one looming dark cloud. The team’s versatile offensive weapon, tight end Taysom Hill, went back to the locker room with a chest injury in the second half.
After the game, head coach Dennis Allen updated that Hill had been transported to a hospital for further testing. He mentioned that the decision was mostly precautionary, but that the team would not know more until the tests came back.
Monday morning, WFAA’s Cowboys Insider Ed Werder provided another update that included some positive news.
Saints TE/FB Taysom Hill returned home to New Orleans last night on the Saints charter after being transported from the stadium to a hospital with a chest injury.
Hill is scheduled for more imaging tests today but team at the moment believes his injury is not overly serious.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) September 16, 2024
Per Werder, Hill was able to travel back to New Orleans with the team after leaving the hospital. Werder also highlights that more imaging is still to be expected but the team is currently not anticipating the injury to be “overly serious.”
This seems to give the early impression that Hill should be able to return this season. The big threat, outside of any vital damage, with a chest injury is typically a torn pectoral muscle, which would immediately end a player’s season.
With initial tests complete and a torn pec not being the immediate diagnosis at this time, that is great news for Hill and the Saints. If the team has to be without him for an extended period, the Saints will be in a unique situation relative to the rest of the NFL. Most teams lose a key player and one, maybe two positions are impacted. For New Orleans, Hill has already taken snaps on all four cores of special teams, at fullback, halfback, wide receiver, tight end and quarterback.
New Orleans’ new offense has been rolling and should be able to overcome a brief absence from their versatile playmaker, but until all imaging and testing is done, this is a crucial injury to follow.
