Will Clapp and Josh Hill have turned recent playing careers into something useful on the Saints’ sideline, and both are bringing a perspective the current roster can feel almost immediately.
Clapp, now the team’s assistant offensive line coach, has already had to adjust to the strange new reality of being a former player in the same building. He still ends up around player hangouts because of family ties, and the reaction from rookies can take a second to settle in.
“I still get invited to some of the player get-togethers because my family is friends with all their families,” Clapp said. “Some of the rookies were weirded out the first time I was there, and it’s like, ‘No, I was one of you guys last year.’”
That shift happened fast. At this time a year ago, Clapp was still on the Saints’ offensive line, trying to push through a career that had already hit its final wall.
He was hurt on his second snap of the first preseason game, and he knew right away it was going to be the kind of injury that ends things. Instead of lining up at guard or center, he is now helping coach the same position group.
Clapp’s route into coaching came sooner than he expected. After eight seasons as a player, he had figured on taking a year away from football before deciding what came next. But once the injury hit, the path changed.
Offensive line coach Brendan Nugent had a front-row seat to the transition. He had coached Clapp early in his career during his first Saints stint, then later helped convince the Los Angeles Chargers to sign him in free agency. Nugent had long believed Clapp had the kind of mind that could work beyond the field.
“I used to joke with him years ago, like, ‘You’re going to coach when you’re done,’” Nugent said. “And he’s like, ‘There’s no chance, there’s no chance, there’s no chance.’”
When Clapp got hurt, Nugent and run-game coordinator T.J. Paganetti went to him with an idea.
“‘We want you to help out as much as you want to,’” Clapp recalled.
From there, the role grew. Clapp began sitting in meetings with Nugent, breaking down film, and giving feedback as the coaches worked through ideas. The Saints eventually had a clean opening when former player-turned-coach Jahri Evans left this offseason to join the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Nugent called Clapp a “no-brainer” replacement.
Kellen Moore said the fit made sense because of Clapp’s preparation and football IQ.
“He’s really, really smart. He’s really prepared.
He works his tail off,” Moore said. “And for those offensive linemen, any time you get a couple guys who have played in those positions relatively recently and can lean on those experiences, it’s great.”
That background matters to the players Clapp is now teaching. Center Erik McCoy spent four seasons with him as a teammate, including last year, and said Clapp was already coaching people while he was still playing.
“Even when he was a player, he was a guy that coached people up,” McCoy said. “And then from a seeing the game standpoint, even as a player, he was years ahead. That’s been really beneficial for me just to have him as a brain to tinker with.”
Left guard David Edwards only overlapped with Clapp for one season, in Buffalo in 2024, but came away impressed by how he communicates.
“What’s really cool is his ability to connect as a coach and as a player to guys and tell the truth,” Edwards said. “He knows what it should look like, feel like.
… He’ll tell you straight up, ‘Hey, what do you think about doing it this way?’ There’s so much in line play in football that you can clean up, it’s never perfect, so having him as a coach and resource has been nothing but awesome.”
Hill’s path back to the sideline was different, but it still wound through the Saints. He retired in 2020 after eight NFL seasons, then stepped away to spend time with his family. Unlike Clapp, he always expected to find his way back into football.
He started in the Saints’ pro scouting department under pro personnel director Michael Parenton, which gave him a different lens on the game. Last season, he moved closer to the field and into a more direct coaching role. Now he’s the assistant tight ends coach.
“It’s been great,” Hill said. “... I’m just excited about the direction of everything, the people in the building, it’s a good match as far as organization, coaching staff.”
Moore said Hill’s career path is useful in its own right. As an undrafted free agent who carved out an eight-year NFL career, Hill offers a model for the players around him.
Both coaches also bring age and familiarity to the job. Hill turned 36 this summer, and Clapp is still a few months away from turning 31. That, along with their recent playing experience and time spent in New Orleans, helps them connect with the current roster in a way that feels immediate.
Hill still knows plenty of his old teammates from his Saints years, and Clapp spent enough time in the locker room with a large part of this year’s team to make the adjustment natural. Their playing careers don’t automatically grant them authority, but the fact that they’ve lived the same grind gives their voice real weight when they’re talking to the guys they now coach.
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