The Injury Desk: Taysom Hill’s Return to Sport - How to Train During the Season After a Major Knee Injury

Written by: Spencer Maxwell Shilstone, NASM-CES/PES/CNC/CPT

Image: Yahoo Sports

Understanding What It Takes to Compete Again After an ACL and Multi-Ligament Knee Injury

Ten months after tearing his ACL and four stabilizing ligaments, requiring a partial knee reconstruction, Taysom Hill is back on the field for the New Orleans Saints.

It is an incredible comeback, but being back does not mean being one hundred percent.

If Tyreek Hill’s devastating injury last week showed how a season can end, Taysom Hill’s story shows what comes next: how to stay strong, confident, and functional once you are back in the game.

The Three Stages of Returning to Sport

Athletes recovering from major knee injuries move through three stages:

1. Return to Participation (~6–9 months post-surgery): Non-contact training, limited reps, and controlled movements. Focus: Restoring strength symmetry and movement control. Research has shown athletes who return before 9 months have a sevenfold higher risk of re-injury (Beischer et al., 2020).
2. Return to Sport (~9-14 months post-surgery): Cleared to play, but not yet at full speed or confidence. Focus: Meeting functional benchmarks such as ≥90% limb symmetry index (LSI) and passing hop or Y-balance tests. Average return-to-play rate after isolated ACL reconstruction is 80–85%, while multi-ligament knee injuries (MLKI) average 60–70% (Borque et al., 2022).
3. Return to Performance (~14-24 months post-surgery): Fully back to pre-injury level or better. Focus: Full neuromuscular control, strength parity, and psychological confidence. Only about 65% of ACL reconstruction athletes and fewer than 50% of MLKI athletes return to their prior level of play (Schmitt et al., 2012).

Multi-ligament injuries like Taysom Hill’s are especially complex, involving possible nerve and vascular considerations that extend recovery timelines and sometimes require staged surgeries (Mook et al., 2009).

Right now, Taysom Hill is squarely in the return to sport phase.

In this first game back since his injury in December 2024, he played eight offensive snaps and three on special teams in Week 5, with six rushes for -1 yard, one 19-yard pass, and one motion route. Nearly all of his snaps came in short-yardage packages.

That tells us the Saints are bringing him back gradually, focusing on stability, control, and confidence rather than volume or explosiveness.

How In-Season Training Looks Different

Once an athlete is back in-season, the goal changes. It is no longer about adding strength. It becomes about maintaining stability and control under the stress of real gameplay.

1. Eccentric Strength

Eccentric training focuses on slowing movement and resisting force. This protects the knee when decelerating or absorbing contact.

Examples: slow tempo squats, controlled lunges, and Nordic hamstring curls.

2. Isometric Strength

Static holds build joint stability and ligament integrity. This is crucial for players like Taysom, who take direct contact at the line of scrimmage.

Examples: wall sits, isometric lunges, single-leg holds.

3. Proprioception and Balance

Proprioception is the body’s internal GPS. It allows you to know where your leg is in space without having to look. After an ACL or multi-ligament injury, retraining this sense is key to regaining confidence and preventing re-injury.

Examples: single-leg balance on foam pads, lateral hops, or catching tosses while balancing.

4. Neuromuscular Coordination

For contact athletes, timing is everything. Coordinating lower-body drive with upper-body control improves reaction time and reduces instability during collisions.

In-season training should be lower in volume but higher in precision. Every rep should have purpose.

Why Taysom’s Play Style Works in His Favor

Taysom’s power-based game, built around short bursts and heavy contact, actually works to his advantage at this stage of recovery.

In Week 5, he was used primarily in six wildcat-style packages, operating as the quarterback in short-yardage and goal-line formations. These plays allow him to control his body position and limit high-speed deceleration. Rather than planting and cutting at top velocity, he is driving forward through compact space, relying on power and body control.

He also ran one route as a receiver, but even that was a low-risk design. Instead of firing off the line from a dead stop, Taysom went in motion across the backfield before the snap. This gradual build-up of movement allows for a smoother acceleration phase with far less force going through the knee compared to a receiver exploding off the line of scrimmage.

That is an important distinction. Acceleration from a static position demands high anterior shear force through the tibia and increased strain on the ACL graft.

By starting in motion, Taysom avoids that initial burst load and moves within a safer kinetic range while still staying unpredictable to defenses.

These are subtle but intentional coaching decisions. They reflect a balance between maximizing his utility on the field and managing load on a surgically repaired knee.

Taysom’s success right now depends more on eccentric and isometric control, his ability to absorb and resist force, than on pure explosiveness. And in that sense, return to sport for Taysom looks a lot like return to performance for other players.

The Business Side of Recovery

Taysom Hill is under contract through 2027, but the final two years of that deal are void years. This season carries his largest cap hit and represents a key evaluation period for Head Coach Kellen Moore, who is reshaping the Saints offense.

If Taysom proves he can stay healthy and productive, he could play a major role in the team’s next phase.

Availability, not explosiveness, will determine his value moving forward.

Lessons for Every Athlete

Whether you are a professional athlete, a soldier, or a weekend warrior, the same principles apply:

• Train to recover, recover to train.
• Control and confidence come before speed and strength.
• Every rep should serve your function, not your ego.

That is how you come back and stay back.

If you are rebuilding after injury or looking to train smarter, explore MaxWell Nutrition Unlimited or apply for one-on-one coaching today. Recovery is not just about getting back, it is about getting better.