The New Orleans Saints named Spencer Rattler as their starting quarterback Tuesday ahead of their Week 1 home game vs. Arizona on Sept. 7.
Rattler beat out second-round pick Tyler Shough to land the gig after veteran QB Derek Carr retired back in May. The club also waived QB Jake Haener, who it picked in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, but he has an offer to join the practice squad if he clears waivers.
Rattler was the Saints’ fifth-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. As a rookie last season, the South Carolina product started six times in his seven regular-season appearances. New Orleans went winless in his six starts.
Rattler completed 130-of-228 passes (57.0%) for 1,317 yards with a 4/5 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He had 146 rushing yards on just 18 attempts for an 8.1 yards-per-carry average.
Rattler probably played his best game in the regular-season finale at Tampa Bay. He helped the Saints take a 13-3 lead midway through the second quarter on a five-yard TD pass to Dante Pettis.
A 10-play, 49-yard drive in 56 seconds allowed kicker Blake Grupe to make a 39-yard field goal to give New Orleans a 16-6 advantage with seven seconds left until halftime of a game the Bucs needed to win to clinch the NFC South.
Tampa Bay ended up rallying for a 27-19 win thanks to a pair of fourth-quarter TDs that erased a 19-13 deficit. Rattler finished the day with 26 completions on 42 throws for 240 passing yards and one TD without an interception. His only rushing attempt went for 11 yards.
After he was announced as the starter Tuesday, Rattler said, “Worked my tail off to achieve this and now it’s here. I’m just ready to work with the guys to get this season going. I feel like we’re headed in the right direction, and everybody is excited.”
New head coach Kellen Moore cited Rattler’s consistency and ability to make plays with his arm and his legs as reasons for getting the nod.
“He’s earned this opportunity. He’s going to do a tremendous job for us,” Moore said of Rattler.
Shough, who spent most of his collegiate career at Texas Tech before transferring to Louisville for his senior campaign, said he was “super disappointed as a competitor.”
He added, “I think everything is an evaluation, especially in this league. You never know what can happen. I think at the end of the day, my job is to support Spencer, and that’s me competing and do everything I can to practice as well as I can give great looks, to learn, to grow, to continue to offer support. So that’s all part of it. ”
Moore seemingly indicated that Rattler wouldn’t have a short lease.
“Spencer’s our starting quarterback, Tyler is going to keep developing,” Moore said. “You need a couple of quarterbacks. … It’s a long NFL season. I think we do value that we have depth there and we’ll have to navigate the rest as we go, but we’re really, really excited about Spence. He’s going to do an awesome job for us.”
Rattler winning the job had a major impact on Shough’s number in the betting market to win Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. BetMGM had him with the fifth-shortest odds (+1500 or 15/1) a few days ago, but FanDuel has his number at 55/1 this morning.
I have the Saints ranked last at #32 in my NFL Preseason Power Rankings. FanDuel has their season win total at 4.5 (‘over’ -125, ‘under’+105).
New Orleans has 13/1 odds to win the NFC South. The Buccaneers are -105 ‘chalk’ to win the loop, followed by Atlanta (+220) and Carolina (+410).
Speaking of the Falcons, they got tough news Tuesday when starting offensive tackle Kaleb McGary was placed on injury reserve, ending his 2025 season due to a leg injury sustained at practice last week.
As of Tuesday morning, most books had New Orleans listed as 6.5-point home underdog for their opener against the Cardinals. The total was 42.5 points, and the Saints were +225 on the money line.