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Brady Poppinga: Taysom Hill ‘could be a starter in the NFL’

Taysom Hill

Brady Poppinga thinks a team should take a late-round flier on Taysom Hill

Former NFL and BYU linebacker Brady Poppinga has strong opinions about former Cougar quarterback Taysom Hill. Hill clearly impressed at BYU’s Pro Day but some are saying that he should change positions and the most common spot is for him to be a safety.

However, Poppinga is adamant that Hill should stick at quarterback. Part of that reasoning is his specialized skill set as a signal-caller and the second is that Hill has suffered multiple injuries, so playing any other position would be more physically demanding and a potential for injury.

“To me there is no point,” Poppinga said on Hill playing another position. “He is such a good quarterback … there is not one team, I guarantee you, there is not one team that looks at him other than a quarterback. They can see the potential, if A: He gets into the right scheme, B: If he is taught the right way to play quarterback at that level and ultimately stays healthy. He could be a starter in the NFL.”

That is high praise by the former NFL linebacker but when looking at CBS Sports draft rankings Hill is not ranked at the quarterback position and he is not ranked at all. Only Walter Football has a recent update on Hill and they place him as the 17th quarterback in this 2017 draft class.

There are teams that are great at developing a quarterback and maybe there will be one that is patient enough to get Hill NFL ready, but how long can they wait since he is going to be turning 27 in late August.

“If you have a throw away draft pick in the sixth or seventh round I am taking Taysom Hill. Especially if I got a coaching staff that knows how to do something with a quarterback with those type of skills,” Poppinga said of Hill’s potential NFL career. “I am talking Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers [that] would be a phenomenal fit … the Green Bay Packers with Mike McCarthy and his ability to develop quarterbacks, you have Miami with Adam Gase … and even Cleveland with Hugh Jackson in terms of being able to develop [quarterbacks].

“You look at those kind of guys who take a lot of pride in their ability to develop quarterbacks,” Poppinga said. “You have that kind of talent in terms of physical ability to work with and they believe that they can turn that player into something. A team is not going to give up a second, third, fourth or even fifth rounder on the guy, but a throw away draft pick, why not. There is very little to lose and a ton to gain if [Hill] turns out to be any good.”

Poppinga went onto say that he believes that Hill will get drafted in the sixth or seventh round. He also discussed Jamaal Williams, Harvey Langi and other former BYU players and his thoughts on their pro football future.

Listen to “Brady Poppinga – Former BYU LB” on Spreaker.

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