Super Bowl City To Move, Mardi Gras Creates Schedule Conflict

• Taysom Hill has -200 odds to be the Week 1 started for the Saints in 2021.
• Drew Brees has -300 odds to retire after the 2020 season in the wake of his serious injuries.
• The 2024 Super Bowl that was scheduled to be held in New Orleans has been moved due to Mardi Gras.

LAS VEGAS - There are a pair of interesting news stories that have come out of New Orleans in recent weeks, both of which might impact the Super Bowl going forward.

First, Taysom Hill, the $20 Million gadget QB, has stepped into the starting job and performed decently enough as a QB in the absence of Drew Brees.

Then, there have been some concerns over whether or not New Orleans would be able to host SB LVIII in 2024 as it might conflict with Mardi Gras.

Those concerns are over - they’ll get the big game in 2025, not 2024. New Orleans was scheduled to host Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, but that has been delayed as of October.

The NFL recently voted to expand the schedule, which would push the Super Bowl back one week.

This extra week would make the 2024 Super Bowl conflict with Mardi Gras, a conflict that nobody involved wants to happen.

Since it’s New Orleans, it was pretty clear which would win out - the city will get the 2025 Super Bowl, and not 2024.

In 2025, Mardi Gras is almost a month later, removing the possibility of conflicting schedules.

Taysom Hill And Drew Brees

Taysom Hill has been something of a running gag to many NFL observers - a gadget QB/TE who could do a lot of different things, but none particularly well.

However, Hill stepped in as QB over Jameis Winston after Drew Brees went down with a punctured lung and many broken ribs, and performed fairly well.

Now, on the online sportsbooks, there are wagers on what the QB situation for the Saints will be going forward.

These two wagers are obviously related, but not directly correlated with each other, as the possibility of another QB coming in should Brees retire still exists.

However, the fact that Brees is -300 to retire after this season obviously informs Taysom Hill’s odds to be the starting QB next year.

If Brees does not retire, an occurrence that has +200 odds right now, Hill would clearly still be reduced to a gadget role as a quarterback.

However, he does not have the job locked up in the absence of Brees, despite having it right now.

Jameis Winston is still on the team, and though Sean Payton has demonstrated a preference for Hill, that could change over the course of the season or offseason.

In addition, the Saints could look to free agency to find a replacement for Brees instead of promoting from within.

That said, right now, it looks like the current form of the Saints looks a lot like what their future will hold as well.