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Is Taysom Hill An NFL Hall Of Famer? | Making The Case For New Orleans Saints Utility Man · AFR Saints

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, congrats to a couple of former New Orleans Saints,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Eric Allen and Jarry Evans, both today named semi finalists
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  Speaker 1: for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A couple of
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  Speaker 1: guys that you certainly hope we'll hear their name called
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: one day, whenever that day comes, and it's just one
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of those things where unfortunately everybody kind of has to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: just wait their turn, especially when you get into this
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  Speaker 1: log jam. But the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced
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  Speaker 1: the twenty five Modern era player semi finalists for this
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  Speaker 1: upcoming class. A minimum of four a maximum of eight
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  Speaker 1: will be selected, and there's some big names on there.
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  Speaker 1: Eli Manning is a first time semi finalist. You'll see
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  Speaker 1: Jary Evans back there, James Harrison as well, Jared Allen
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  Speaker 1: who's still been waiting his turn, Steve Smith Senior, Terrell Suggs,
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  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor, Earl Thomas a first time eligible player, first
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  Speaker 1: year eligible players A semi finalists, So twenty five semi
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  Speaker 1: finalists there, and as we mentioned, Eric Allen, who was
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  Speaker 1: drafted by the Eagles and finished his career in New Orleans,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and then obviously Jari Evans, who played his entire NFL
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  Speaker 1: career with the New Orleans Saints and just this past
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  Speaker 1: Sunday went into the Saints' Ring of Honor, And who
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  Speaker 1: is a guy who we've had the conversation about about
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Jari over the years. I think he's a borderline Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Famer. He's a no doubter for the New Orleans
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  Speaker 1: Saints Hall of Fame and obviously the Ring of Honor.
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  Speaker 1: But one of those guys that you look like, not
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  Speaker 1: as accomplished as Kevin Mawaii and Alan Fanica when you
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  Speaker 1: look at the Pro Bowls, they all pros, but and
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  Speaker 1: those are guys that had to wait their turn. So
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  Speaker 1: I hope the day comes for Jari, and I think
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  Speaker 1: he's he's deserving. Just very hard with offensive linemen because
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: you do have a log jam because there's five of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: them on the line at a time, right, so you're
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  Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of them come in. It's like
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  Speaker 1: a quarterback where there's like there's one quarterback team, so
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  Speaker 1: you have five like offensive lineman. Receivers like Tory Holt
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  Speaker 1: is still waiting. Andre Reid had to wait a long time.
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  Speaker 1: So that'll be interesting to see what happens there with JAOI.
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  Speaker 1: If his time does come and how long he may
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: have to wait. But there's also going to be an
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  Speaker 1: interesting conversation I think one day about Taysom Hill, and
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  Speaker 1: I just thought of this today because there was this
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  Speaker 1: sort of the Saints are on a bye and there
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  Speaker 1: was this merging of stories where Taysom after his record
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  Speaker 1: seiting day where he had three touchdowns against Cleveland and
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  Speaker 1: he went for one hundred and thirty eight rushing yards,
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  Speaker 1: fifty receiving yards through an eighteen yard pass, had three
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  Speaker 1: touchdowns on the afternoon, had a kick return for forty
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  Speaker 1: two yards. Taysom was named the NFC Offensive Player of
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the Week for his performance against the Cleveland Browns. And
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  Speaker 1: the fact that this happened on the same day that
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the semi finalists for the Hall of Fame were announced,
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  Speaker 1: it got me thinking about Tasom Hill's Hall of Fame case.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And you may roll your eyes and laugh and smirk,
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  Speaker 1: and quite honestly, I wouldn't blame you if you did,
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  Speaker 1: because if you just look at Taysom Hill as a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: running back, he's not a Hall of Famer. If you
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: look at Taysom Hill as a receiver, he's not a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. If you look at Taysom Hill as
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a tight end, he is not a Hall of Famer.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: If you look at Taysom Hill as a quarterback, he
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: is not a Hall of Famer. But Taysom Hill is
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: so much more than all of that, because he is
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: all of those things, and he's a special teamer, and
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  Speaker 1: he's blocked punts, and he's covered punts and kicks, and
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  Speaker 1: he has done all those things that I just mentioned
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: still at a very high level. And I would have
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: never had this conversation ever until last year when the
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Fame voters elected Devin Hester. Because
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Devin Hester is not a Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and that's what he is. He's a receiver. Devin Hester
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  Speaker 1: is a was an NFL receiver and in his career
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  Speaker 1: has had two hundred and fifty five receptions for thirty
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: three hundred eleven yards and sixteen touchdowns. He was just
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: an okay NFL receiver, gave you the ability of the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: deep threat, but just wasn't a game breaker. And in
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: his career, his twelve year career where he played one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six games, Devin Hester only ran the
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  Speaker 1: ball thirty six times one hundred and sixteen career rushing
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  Speaker 1: yards for Devin Hester never threw a pass in twelve years,
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  Speaker 1: so he was an average receiver. But he was the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: best punt returner the game has ever seen. He set
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: an NFL record with fourteen punt returns for touchdowns. He
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: also returned five kickoffs for touchdowns over his twelve year career,
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  Speaker 1: so about once every other year he returned to kickoff
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  Speaker 1: for a touchdown, but at least once a year he
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  Speaker 1: returned to punt for a touchdown, so on average, So
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Devin Hester got to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
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  Speaker 1: by being the best in NFL history at doing one
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  Speaker 1: specific thing. And so I look at Taysom Hill and
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  Speaker 1: I go, all those things I just said are true.
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  Speaker 1: He's not a Hall of Fame receiver, not a Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Fame tight end, not a Hall of Fame running back,
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  Speaker 1: not a Hall of Fame quarterback, none of that. But
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  Speaker 1: the NFL in the last sixty years hasn't seen a
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  Speaker 1: player like Taysom Hill who has been so proficient at
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  Speaker 1: all of those things. Taysom Hill, for his career has
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: ninety four receptions for over nine hundred yards and eleven touchdowns.
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  Speaker 1: Taysom Hill has four hundred and thirty two rushing attempts
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  Speaker 1: for over twenty four hundred yards and thirty three rushing touchdowns.
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  Speaker 1: Taysom Mill also has thrown for over twenty three hundred
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  Speaker 1: yards and eleven touchdowns. By the way, He's also made
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  Speaker 1: seventeen tackles. He's returned to punt and returned twenty kickoffs.
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  Speaker 1: The only player that he compares to really in NFL
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  Speaker 1: history is Frank Gifford, the late Frank Gifford who played
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  Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties. Frank Gifford, who I know from
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the Monday Night Football booth. It was Frank and Allen Dan,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I mean Lyn Swan on the sideline. That's I grew
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: up watching those guys on Monday Night football. But Frank
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  Speaker 1: Gifford played from nineteen fifty two to nineteen sixty four,
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  Speaker 1: all of his seasons with the New York Football Giants,
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  Speaker 1: and Frank Gifford ran for eight hundred and forty career yards.
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  Speaker 1: Taysom Hill has run for twenty four hundred career yards.
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  Speaker 1: Taysom Hill, in two fewer seasons than Frank Gifford, has
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  Speaker 1: already run for three times as he's triple Frank Gifford's
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: rushing total. Frank Gifford had thirty four rushing touchdowns in
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: his career, Taysom's at thirty three. He's gonna pass him. Now.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: When you look at receptions, Frank Gifford had fifty four
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: hundred receiving yards, Tasom's at nine hundred. So Frank Gifford
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: was dramatically used more in the pass catching game than Taysom.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: But in his career, Frank Gifford had eight hundred and
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: twenty three passing yards and fourteen passing touchdowns. Tayso him
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: over twenty three hundred passing yards and eleven passing touchdowns. Basically,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: when you look when it's all said and done, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: you put Frank Gifford's career next to Taysom Hills, receiving, running, passing,
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  Speaker 1: special teams, all that Taysom triples Frank Gifford in rushing,
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  Speaker 1: Frank Gifford does about this, We'll do about the same
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  Speaker 1: to Taso him in receiving, and Taysom triples Frank Gifford
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  Speaker 1: in passing. Tasom Hill has been a more productive player
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: cumulatively in those three things than Frank Gifford was, and
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Frank Gifford's a Hall of Famer. So I look at
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  Speaker 1: I go, there's president for this, there's president for this.
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  Speaker 1: Now it was in the nineteen fifties. I mean, you're
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: talking when Frank Gifford ended his career sixty years ago.
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  Speaker 1: He was an outlier. Frank Gifford was, and that got
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: him in the Hall of Fame. But sixty years later,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: we haven't seen a player like that. So there is
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: going to be a case to be made for Taysom Hill.
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  Speaker 1: Now I don't believe Taysom Hill should be in the
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Fame. I don't believe, but I'm
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: not a voter. The voters elected Frank Gifford, and the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: voters also elected a far less accomplished player in Devin Hester,
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  Speaker 1: who I don't think should have been in the Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Fame. But it's a Hall of Fame, and Devin
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Hester is very famous, and so is Taysom Hill. I
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  Speaker 1: mean he has done things, quite literally, we have not
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  Speaker 1: seen done in the NFL in sixty years. So Taysom's
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  Speaker 1: not done, and he's going to keep building that resume.
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  Speaker 1: And the more he does and the more he closes
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  Speaker 1: the gap and some of these statistics and distances himself
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  Speaker 1: and others, the more of a mountain of evidence he's
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  Speaker 1: building that Someday, when we're having these conversations about Pro
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Football Hall of Fame Modern era candidates and semi finalists
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and finalists, like, there's a strong case that will be
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: made for Taysom Hill because the voters, not me, because
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I don't think he should be The voters have set
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  Speaker 1: this precedent that a guy like Taysom should be considered
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  Speaker 1: and quite honestly, should be elected one day to the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Fame. Listen, he's got uniforms that
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: are on display there for some of his incredible days
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that he's had. Maybe one day his bust will be
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  Speaker 1: as well, and precedent suggests it should be