Taysom Hill won’t be back with the Saints in 2026, but the versatile tight end could wind up reuniting with a former coach.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton told Steve Wyche and Cynthia Frelund of NFL Media that the team will explore bringing in Hill.
Hill saw his first NFL action while playing for Payton in New Orleans in 2017 and would go on to see time as a tight end, quarterback, kick returner and various other offensive roles during their time together. Hill remained with the Saints after Payton left following the 2021 season, but said last week that “returning to New Orleans is not in the cards” this year.
Given the history between Hill and Payton, the Broncos were seen as a possible next stop for Hill and that possibility feels a little more likely with the team set to consider the move.
Saints Clips
One of the various training-camp hold-ins ended on Thursday, when the Saints signed receiver Chris Olave to a new deal.
Due to make $15.493 million in 2026, Olave added a four-year extension, reportedly worth up to $132 million.
The full details of the deal have now made their way to PFT HQ. Here they are, per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $35 million.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.293 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 per-game roster bonus: $1.36 million total ($80,000 per game); fully guaranteed (but must be earned).
4. 2027 base salary: $13.64 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2027 per-game roster bonus: $1.36 million total ($80,000 per game); fully guaranteed (but must be earned).
6. 2028 base salary: $23 million, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in March 2028.
7. 2028 per-game roster bonus: $1.36 million total ($80,000 per game); guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in March 2028 (but must be earned).
8. 2029 base salary: $27 million, $13 million of which is guaranteed for injury and becomes fully guaranteed in March 2029.
9. 2029 per-game roster bonus: $1.36 million total ($80,000 per game).
10. 2030 offseason roster bonus: $3 million.
11. 2030 base salary: $29.76 million.
12. 2030 per-game roster bonus: $1.36 million total ($80,000 per game).
The contract also includes $2 million in escalators for 2027 through 2030, based on performance in the prior season. The formula goes like this: $400,000 for being named a first-team All-Pro; $400,000 for making it to the Pro Bowl; $400,000 for 1,200 or more receiving yards; $400,000 for 101 or more catches; and $400,000 for 10 or more receiving touchdowns. (In four NFL seasons, Olave has hit none of those triggers.)
The actual base value is $124 million, with a maximum value of $132 million. The new-money APY is $31 million, and the base value from signing is $27.898 million.
The $1.36 million in per-game roster bonuses for each of the next five years gives the Saints protection against injury. In 2024, Olave missed nine games, mainly due to multiple concussions. He started 16 games in 2025.
Of the amount, $52.653 million is fully guaranteed at signing. By 2027, $77.013 million is fully guaranteed. By 2028, $90 million is fully guaranteed.
Veteran offensive lineman Andrus Peat announced his retirement on Friday.
Peat made the announcement in an Instagram post that said he “gave it everything I had” over the course of an 11-year NFL career.
Peat was a 2015 first-round pick in New Orleans and he spent nine seasons with the team. He played for the Raiders in 2024 and appeared in six games for the Steelers last season.
During his time with the Saints, Peat started 102 of the 111 regular season games he played. Peat was a Pro Bowl selection at guard from 2018-2020 and he also started six playoff games while with the team.
On Thursday, the Saints agreed to a four-year extension with Chris Olave, ending the receiver’s brief hold-in as he sought a new deal.
Head coach Kellen Moore called it “awesome for our team, awesome for Chris” in his Friday press conference.
“Just awesome for what he’s gone through in his career, the success he’s had, also the things he’s had to navigate,” Moore said. “At the end of the day, when everyone is shooting for the same goal, it’s a matter of time before it gets figured out. Sometimes the business part takes a little precedence, which is fine. And I think everyone’s really, really excited for where this thing’s going.”
The No. 11 overall pick of the 2022 draft, Olave has eclipsed 1,000 yards in three of his four seasons since entering the league out of Ohio State.
In 2025, Olave set career highs in receptions (100), yards (1,163), and touchdowns (nine). In all, he’s caught 291 passes for 3,728 yards with 19 TDs in 55 games.
Saints wide receiver Chris Olave didn’t do team drills in the team’s first training camp practice for what head coach Kellen Moore called business reasons, but there won’t be any reason for Olave to limit his participation for the rest of camp.
Olave’s agents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus told ESPN that Olave has agreed to a four-year extension with the Saints. The deal is worth $132 million with $90 million in guaranteed money.
The agreement comes a couple of days after General Manager Mickey Loomis said that the team was hopeful to lock up the 2022 first-round pick beyond the fifth and final year of his rookie deal. Loomis also noted that Olave’s injury history, which includes multiple concussions and last year’s blood clot in his lung, as “an element” of the negotiations.
Given the size of the commitment the Saints are making, Olave’s production — 291 catches for 3,728 yards and 19 touchdowns — was a bigger element and Olave is set to have five more years to build those numbers.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton teamed up to win a lot of games with the Saints and Brees will tap into that history at next month’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Payton will serve as Brees’s presenter on August 8 in Canton, Ohio. Both men joined the Saints in 2006 and they remained in New Orleans through Brees’s retirement after the 2020 season. The run included a win in Super Bowl XLIV and nine overall playoff appearances.
“He was special,” Payton said, via Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com. “I told Drew these [partnerships] usually don’t end this way, with both of us leaving on our own terms. He meant so much to me and my career.”
Payton will also attend a dinner the night before the ceremony, which means the Broncos’ head coach will miss two days of training camp to help honor Brees.
Free agent Taysom Hill doesn’t know where his future is, but he knows it’s not in New Orleans.
After nine seasons with the Saints, the quarterback/tight end/wide receiver bid the team and the city farewell.
“For the last nine years, New Orleans has been so much more than the city where I played,” Hill said in a statement. “It’s where my family built a life, where our oldest son was born, and where we formed relationships and made memories that will stay with us forever.
“I’ve taken time this offseason to think carefully about what comes next for my family and me. I still don’t have a clear answer about what the future holds, but I know that returning to New Orleans is not in the cards. As training camp begins, I didn’t want my silence to be misinterpreted, and as hard as it is to put into words, I wanted to express my gratitude.”
Hill, who will turn 36 in August, has been most closely linked with the Broncos if his career continues. He played for Broncos head coach Sean Payton for five seasons.
In his career, Hill has 2,551 rushing yards, 1,034 receiving yards and 2,426 passing yards. He’s the first player in the Super Bowl era to have more than 1,000 yards as a receiver, runner and passer.
Not long after defensive tackle Bryan Bresee went down with a knee injury came word that the Saints feared a torn ACL. Saints coach Kellen Moore appeared on WWL Radio on Wednesday afternoon and confirmed that the initial diagnosis didn’t deliver good news.
“No one kind of ran into each other; no one fell on anyone,” Moore said. “It was just kind of a goofy deal where obviously something unfortunately happened and so it took a little bit, I think, for him to realize what it felt like. It felt like a little bit of something and then once they checked it out, obviously we’ll continue to finalize all that, but it doesn’t look great.”
If the MRI confirms Bresee tore his ACL, his season will end on injured reserve.
The Saints have Davon Godchaux, Nathan Shepherd, rookie Christen Miller, Vernon Broughton and John Ridgeway, among others, at the position.
“That’s the cycle of the NFL and in an unfortunate but opportunistic way,” Moore said. “Guys unfortunately go through things and they don’t become available, and it’s the opportunity for someone else to step up and take advantage. . . . And so if Bryan is out for a while, certainly, we’re going to expect a lot of these other guys to take the next step.”
The Saints exercised Bresee’s fifth-year option this offseason, so he is under contract for next season.
New Orleans made Bresee a first-round pick in 2023, and he has totaled 86 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles in 49 career games. He started all 15 games he played in 2025.
Running back Alvin Kamara agreed to a reported $5.5 million pay cut to stay in New Orleans, because “this is where I wanted to be.”
But at 31, headed into his 10th season and no longer the lead back, Kamara has every reason to have a chip on his shoulder even if he insists he doesn’t have one.
“I’m motivated every year,” Kamara said Wednesday, via Matthew Paras of nola.com. “A chip? No. Pissed? Maybe.”
Former teammate Terron Armstead had suggested “pissed off” was the best way to describe Kamara’s emotions.
Kamara played 11 games in 2025, with 131 carries for a career-low 471 yards and a career-low one touchdown. That prompted the Saints to sign Travis Etienne in the offseason.
The Saints, though, know who Kamara is and what he can do, and the five-time Pro Bowler will have a role.
“Credit to Alvin, he always does a great job during the offseason of really training himself and putting himself to be in a position ready to go,” coach Kellen Moore said. “You certainly see that when he’s out there on the field. We feel great about the situation.”
The Saints may have suffered a major blow to their defense.
Defensive lineman Bryan Bresee left Wednesday’s opening practice of training camp with a knee injury and NFL Media reports that the fear is that he tore his ACL. If that is confirmed, Bresee will miss the entire 2026 season and the Saints could be on the hunt for more help on their defensive front.
Bresee was a 2023 first-round pick in New Orleans and he started all 15 games he played during the 2025 season. He has 86 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles in 49 career games for the team.
The Saints exercised Bresee’s fifth-year option this offseason, so he is under contract for next season.
