Saints On SI Mailbag: Will CJ Play More? Too Many Hits on Shough...

We get all sorts of questions and comments from you. Each Wednesday, we will answer your most pressing and interesting questions (or comment on your comments) about what we see from our vantage point. To submit your thoughts or inquiries click here.

From the Saints On SI Mailbag, Bob says, I think that Taysom Hill would be a great addition if the Saints can swing a deal. What do you guys think?

Having the Human Swiss Army Knife back would be a lot of fun. He has always been a fan favorite. However, we don't see that happening because of financial reasons. Once Hill's time was up with the Saints, he could have signed anywhere. Even the guy who originally stole him from the Packers, Sean Peyton, tried to sway him to come to Denver. Hill gave him a price, and Peyton said, "Never mind." Though no official interludes have been announced, we have been told that communications are still open between the team and Hill, but we believe he has called it a day as an NFL player.

Now, you do realize that as soon as we say that, he will sign and start playing, right?

From the Saints On SI Mailbag, Di asks, Will CJ Donaldson play (more)?

Unless the team brings in another back via trade or free agency (we've covered that in the past), we see Donaldson getting more opportunities to run the ball for this specific reason: Kendre Miller has run his course with the Saints, from our viewpoint. He has not produced, he has some of the poorest PFF scores on the team, and his flashes of brilliance are far outweighed by his lack of production. The Saints need to move on from Miller as soon as feasible (considering how banged up the running back room is).

From the Saints On SI Mailbag, DB asks, Are you concerned that #6 is taking too many hits? It worries me.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. We made a comparison to Saints Hall of Famer Archie Manning in our article the day after the game. Archie was beat up from his rookie year on as a Saints quarterback. We vividly remember him being pretzeled by the Los Angeles Rams, then getting up and going again. We don't know how he was able to stand again on that old concrete-like Superdome turf.

Shough is finding ways to complete passes to receivers who are extremely well covered, while being hit, pushed, and intimidated. In the Monday Night game alone, Shough was pressured 25-times. That's out of 51 dropbacks, a 49% pressure rate. For the season, Shough has been sacked a dozen times.

There's a buttload of money being spent on this Saints offensive line. We get down and dirty about what the problems are and where they could originate in our grading story earlier this week.

However, as you probably know, DB, blocking takes everyone on the field: the O-line, tight ends, receivers, and running backs. Head coach Kellen Moore alluded to that on Tuesday (we are paraphrasing here) saying that it's pieces here and there that aren't connecting, that it needs to be everyone working on the same page.

And that includes Shough. He needs to learn the pressures, where they're coming from and where the voids are so he is not put in these precarious situations. He has less than a season of NFL starts under his belt, so this will take time, if his body can stand it.

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