The New Orleans Saints let Jameis Winston walk in free agency and now have to decide whether to replace him with Jake Haener or Spencer Rattler.
Derek Carr is the clear-cut starter at quarterback, but who is going to back him up? He had to leave two games last year. with injuries You hope that doesn’t happen again, but it’s important to be prepared.
Regardless of whether it’s Haener or Rattler, the Saints’ backup quarterback will be inexperienced. Haener was drafted last year, and Rattler is an incoming rookie. Neither man has ever suited up to play a regular season game in the NFL.
Haener has the edge of going through a full training camp and preseason last summer, and he’s been putting in the work this offseason to learn from that experience. That slight gap was shown during minicamp and organized team activities. He appeared to be the sharper quarterback in the early portions of the offseason.
If either of these men have to start a game, they’ll be the first Saints starting quarterback to be drafted by the team in over 20 years, excluding Ian Book, who started one game due to COVID-19 absences and injuries. Crazy times.
The battle won’t conclude until at least the end of the preseason. Carr may only appear in one game for a single drive or two, as he did last year, leaving two more games for each quarterback to take an entire half. If this the route New Orleans takes, Rattler and Haener should both start a game a piece. We’ll see what the plan is in the weeks ahead.
