One ripple effect of the New Orleans Saints losing Jake Haener for the first six games: they’re stuck working with the NFL’s new QB3 rule like every other team rather than taking advantage of a loophole with Taysom Hill’s positional versatility.
The Saints recently changed Hill’s official listing from tight end to quarterback so they could exploit the rule change and have all four quarterback-eligible players dress out on game days.
Buy Saints TicketsHad Haener remained available, the Saints could have activated two quarterbacks (Carr and Winston) while keeping a third (Haener) in reserve as the third passer, with Hill also in the game, essentially saving a roster spot to get another backup quarterback. They can still do that without Haener but they’ll be formally activating Carr and Hill with Winston as the third passer. Which is what every other team is doing.