METAIRIE, La. – The New Orleans Saints changed Taysom Hill’s position for the second time in a year.

Hill’s position quietly went from tight end at the beginning of the week to quarterback on the team’s website ahead of Sunday's season-opener against the Tennessee Titans (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

But listing Hill as the team's third-string quarterback appears to be a move in name only. Hill won’t wear the red “non-contact” jersey at practice, and he’ll still participate mostly with the tight end group -- occasionally throwing passes like he did in OTAs, minicamp and training camp.

“Probably more of a clerical thing than anything else,” coach Dennis Allen said. “Taysom took, I think, almost 50% of his snaps last year at the quarterback position. So, I don’t know that there’s anything really to that other than he kind of plays a lot of different positions.”

So why the change?

Listing Hill as a quarterback could give the Saints flexibility under a new rule that allows teams to roster an emergency third quarterback on game days and not count against the active gameday roster. This allows teams to dress an extra player on gameday, when the active roster is usually limited to 47 or 48.

Without the emergency third quarterback, teams can dress up to 48 players if they have eight active offensive linemen. If they have fewer than eight, then they can only make 47 players active.

This rule allows a team to play a quarterback that was listed as inactive on gameday under certain circumstances. He can come in if the first two quarterbacks are unavailable to play.

This can only happen if all three quarterbacks are on the team’s 53-man roster. A player must also be considered a “bona fide quarterback," according to an FAQ the NFL recently sent out explaining the new rule. The FAQ stated that players listed at another position cannot be used as an emergency third quarterback, although they could take snaps at quarterback in normal situations as long as they're active on gameday.

The FAQ states that a "bona fide quarterback" is “a player who wears a jersey number authorized for a quarterback and (a) is an established quarterback (e.g., someone who has customarily played the position in past professional or college seasons); or (b) is a player who takes regular-season snaps only at quarterback during at least three consecutive weeks of practice, including any week the player would be listed as an Emergency Third Quarterback.”

"There's a new rule where you can have an emergency third quarterback which kind of allows you to bring 49 players to the gameday roster," Allen said. "So with us, we're kind of being a little bit unique in that we have four guys that play the quarterback position. It's just something we'll evaluate on a weekly basis to see ... who we put out on the field and how we designate that gives us the best chance to win."

Although Hill was listed at tight end last season, he actually took more snaps at quarterback than any other place on the field. He also said recently that he didn't think he took any actual snaps as typical in-line tight end in 2022.

Hill played 45.2% of his offensive snaps at quarterback, 18.5% lined up out wide, 15.6% in the slot, 13.7% at tight end and 7% in the backfield.

He ran 117 routes, was targeted 12 times and caught nine passes. He completed 13-of-19 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing 96 times for 575 yards and seven touchdowns, all from the quarterback position.

“I think when you look at it, you would say he plays almost 50% of his snaps at the quarterback position,” Allen said. "We just listed him there."

In order for the Saints to use their emergency quarterback in a game, both of the first two quarterbacks must be out of the game because of injury or disqualification.

The rule states: “A club must have two bona fide quarterbacks on its 47/48-player gameday active list to designate an Emergency Third Quarterback. A club cannot designate an Emergency Third Quarterback if it has three or more bona fide quarterbacks on its 47/48-player gameday active list.”

The emergency third quarterback must also line up under center or take snaps from the shotgun. The Saints or any other team can no longer use the Wildcat formation if they are down to using the emergency quarterback.

The Saints could use this rule to their advantage in two ways. Rookie Jake Haener is currently serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug rule. That leaves Derek Carr, Jameis Winston and now Hill as the three quarterbacks.

Under this rule, the Saints could start Carr and play Hill in another capacity on the field, leaving Winston inactive as the emergency third quarterback. However, this would also mean the Saints would have to first attempt to play out the remainder of the game with Hill -- which Allen acknowledged that if they made Hill the backup, then that would be case if Carr were to go out.

"I think there's a lot of options that come with that, but yeah, that could potentially be something that we would do," Allen said of the scenario with Winston being designated as the third quarterback. "We'll see on a week-to-week basis."

They could not turn to Winston unless both quarterbacks were out, although they could choose to start Winston the next week if Carr was out for more than one game, similar to 2020 when Winston finished out a game for an injured Drew Brees, but Hill started the next week.

When Haener comes back after his suspension, the Saints could make Winston inactive as the emergency third quarterback and Haener inactive without the ability to come into that particular game.

If Carr was out for an extended period at that point, then the Saints could start Winston in his place and make Haener the emergency third quarterback.

The Saints might choose not to take advantage of this rule at all so that they can have Winston, who has taken all the second-team snaps this summer, available to immediately back up Carr. However, if they need an extra spot on the gameday roster, Hill’s unique role gives the Saints an ability to still have a quarterback available on the 47/48-man roster who can also play a skill position role and contribute on special teams.