I think that may be one reason for the Bill Sammon addition. He may Be Britt II for years to come, kind of a stealth model.
IMHO Sammon is still an independent thinker whereas Brit has gone CNN lite far too often.
Brit Hume is not as young as he looks. My thought is that he will be cutting back on his schedule, if not retiring. Sammons looks to be a great replacement, IMHO.