Someone in the New Orleans Saints pro personnel department is big fan of Ben DiNucci. The Saints signed the veteran backup quarterback on Tuesday after a hand injury put Derek Carr’s status in doubt, reinforcing the depth chart behind Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler. It’s been a long time coming.
The Saints tried to sign DiNucci last year when Carr suffered a shoulder injury, but it was reported that he wasn’t open to leaving the Denver Broncos practice squad just to sit on the bench somewhere else. Here’s what we wrote at the time:
But DiNucci didn’t see a better situation on the Saints’ 53-man roster than he already had in Denver. The Saints signed Jake Luton from the Carolina Panthers practice squad and rostered him for three weeks while Carr played through his injured throwing shoulder; when rookie quarterback Jake Haener returned from a six-week suspension to start the season, Luton was waived.
That wasn’t the case this time. DiNucci hadn’t been on an NFL roster since August, when he spent a few weeks with the Buffalo Bills. Without a viable alternative, he was obviously more willing to go be a backup on another team. Hopefully he can help the team get through this rough patch while Carr is on the mend.
