Hill excited for reunion with Vikings' Turner, ready to tutor Bridgewater
Shortly after signing Shaun Hill to a two-year contract, the Minnesota Vikings tweeted a picture of the original contract Hill signed with the team as an undrafted rookie out of Maryland in 2002.
The young quarterback had signed for $130,000.
"That was quite a while ago, but, yeah, I remember," Hill said on a conference call after his signing became official Wednesday.
Hill's new contract is worth quite a bit more as he brings 14 seasons of experience back to Minnesota. But he is in familiar territory backing up a young Vikings starter.
Listening to Hill speak, his history with the organization comes through. When he first signed with the team, he was behind Daunte Culpepper and Todd Bouman on the depth chart. He played behind Gus Frerotte and Brad Johnson and played for former offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.
Hill's Minnesota experience was limited to one game in 2005. In a season-ending win against the Chicago Bears, Hill replaced Johnson and finished the game with two kneeldowns.
"I thought for sure I was going to have the world's shortest highlight film whenever I left here," Hill said.
A year later, Hill joined Norv Turner in San Francisco.
Really, familiarity played a big role in Hill's return to the Vikings. Turner's presence as Minnesota's offensive coordinator helped sway Hill's decision to sign with the Vikings.
Hill said during the league's three-day negotiating window, he sat down with his family and weighed the opportunities he was presented. Turner's presence in Minnesota was a checkmark in the plus column for the Vikings.
"Norv's a guy that I've always respected and a guy that I've always wanted to play for again," Hill said.
Hill called Turner "probably one of the great offensive minds maybe in the history of the game" and credited Turner for continuing his career.
"When my time here was done, I was basically out of ball and he was the one that brought me to San Francisco," Hill said. "He stood on the table to get me there. He really played a big part in continuing my career. I obviously learned a lot from him in that one year."
Hill also understands his role as he comes back to Minnesota. Multiple reports say Hill signed for $6.5 million for two years this time around, but he'll again be backing up a young starter in Teddy Bridgewater.
Hill, 35, spent last season with the St. Louis Rams and started eight games in place of Sam Bradford. He completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 1,657 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions while compiling an 83.9 quarterback rating.
The Vikings traded backup Matt Cassel to the Buffalo Bills last week in exchange for a 2015 fifth-round draft pick. Minnesota also sent a 2015 sixth-round pick to Buffalo in the deal.
In the move from Cassel to Hill, the Vikings saved $1.5 million against the salary cap this season. The hope -- like his unfortunate previous stint in Minnesota -- is Hill will be a seldom-used backup; thus is the reality of Hill's situation.
"To be honest with you, it's better for everybody if you have your established roles," Hill said. "We'll have our own competitions and things and keep it fun, but it's better to have our established roles. I understand that. And I'll be able to fit that role, for sure."
Hill said Bridgewater had already reached out to him since the news of his signing. Hill said he will try to push Bridgewater while also understanding his place as a veteran mentor for the second-year starter.
"It's an interesting dynamic, because you want to establish some kind of competitive spirit amongst the guys in the room," Hill said. "But you also understand your role, you know? Teddy's the starter but at the same time I'm going to (be) pushing him. And maybe one day we'll have a competition on most explosive plays or maybe one week it'll be a completion-percentage competition. It's just things like that.
"You develop these competitions amongst yourselves, but all the while my goal is to improve every day but it's also to help him and be ready for that opponent that week."
Follow Brian Hall on Twitter
