It’s a three-man race for the starting quarterback gig in New Orleans. However, as preseason games approach, one of the players in the competition believes he has “been the best quarterback on the field.”
First-year coach Kellen Moore recently said that he would give each of Spencer Rattler, Tyler Shough and Jake Haener the chance to win the starting job, saying, “We feel good about letting all these guys go for it.”
Rattler, who started six games last season in place of the injured (and now retired) Derek Carr, expressed a belief to Yahoo Sports that he’s the best man for the job.
“I know what I bring to the table,” Rattler said. “I was confident in what I can do in this competition. I feel like that brings the best out of me. And I feel like throughout this camp, I’ve been the best quarterback on the field.
“So I want to keep that going and keep showing the team, keep showing the guys, keep showing the coaches that I want to be that guy.”
Rattler threw for 1,317 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions last season, his rookie campaign after being taken in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Saints drafted Shough in the second round of this year’s draft, and the 26-year-old rookie was confident in his own ability to compete to be under center as QB1 when the season begins.
“I’m going to go out there and compete, have fun doing it, and it’s not going to go perfectly,” Shough said. “But I’m going to be the last one standing at the end of the day if I can do something about it.”
As a 2023 draft pick, Haener has more NFL seasons under his belt than his competition. He saw limited time in 2024 when he appeared in eight games. For the season, he threw for 226 yards, one touchdown, one interception and had a QB rating of 62.6. And Haener has a second Moore connection, as he played for his current coach’s brother, Kirby, at Fresno State.
Haener gave a more balanced, veteran perspective to the race to be the starting signal caller when the Saints kick off their season at home against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 7. New Orleans’ preseason kicks off with an Aug. 10 game against the Chargers in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been in competitions before and it’s not always as good as this one is, where sometimes some guy is insecure with himself and he has a particular way about himself,” Haener said. “I don’t think that is this room at all. I think we’re all comfortable with who we are. We’re all confident in each other’s games. We all respect one another’s games.
“At the end of the day we know that coach is going to put the guy that he thinks is going to be able to win the most games on the field. And like I said, we’re all going to have each other’s back.”
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