Jake Haener has always been an underdog who seems to attract those late to the party when he’s presented a stage to demand attention. That was the case for the rookie quarterback in his first New Orleans Saints preseason game, but it’s just the latest performance from him.
The Senior Bowl was one of those instances, as the former Mountain West star showed to be far and away the best quarterback at the event between his improvisation ability as he effortlessly made plays out of structure, ball placement, accuracy, leadership and football IQ.
Earlier in the week, Haener was afforded a much larger venue in the Caesars Superdome in the Saints’ 26-24 preseason win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Three consecutive incompletions over his first two offensive series with an interception caused by an overthrow didn’t exactly give the best impression, but despite some classic rookie stumbles, Haener began to settle in.
Playing out the entire final two quarters of the contest with second and third-stringers, Haener got back to himself in the final minutes of the game with a seven-play, 76-yard drive in which Haener showed full command in a high-pressure, two-minute drill type of situation.
It culminated in a two-yard rollout touchdown pass to running back Ellis Merriweather that played a critical role in allowing the Saints to secure the win, after the Chiefs pulled ahead while trailing by a large margin, threatening to take the contest all together.
So, what’s to make of this? A little bit of something, yet a whole lot of nothing at the same time.
For one, Haener’s intangibles and raw potential are what we thought they would be. But there’s a key word there — raw. In a world where instant gratification is highly sought-after — something that definitely exists in sports — it’s important to note that the transition to the NFL is an incredibly difficult one for even the best of quarterbacks.
“Early on I thought he was a little erratic, but I thought as he settled down, he got better,” Saints head coach Dennis Allen said after the game.
Allen continued, “He has a little moxie to him and when the game was on the line, he got us down the field and put points on the board. It was disappointing on the two-point play that we snapped the ball early and don’t get a chance to at least try to execute in that situation. I thought that was my one takeaway is that we had too many self-inflicted wounds – not with the first groups, but as we got into the second and third waves, we had some self-inflicted wounds that we have to clean up.”
There’s going to be a learning curve for Haener and every other rookie quarterback across the NFL, and it should also be taken into account that he’s playing alongside backups and behind the reserve offensive line.
Look for Haener to continue to build upon his performance as he continues to work on decision-making at the next level when the Saints continue the preseason with a matchup against the Houston Texans on Sunday at 7 p.m. CT in the Caesars Superdome.
