By Ross Jackson
The New Orleans Saints have wrapped up OTAs, but the story of the offseason continues on. The Saints’ quarterback competition has been raging between second-year quarterback Spencer Rattler and rookie Tyler Shough.
Both passers have commanded the wealth of the 7-on-7 and 9-on-7 snaps that the media has seen during the viewing periods of three of the Saints’ nine OTA practices.
Both passers have impressed and put together big plays downfield, showing quick processing skills and their own individual strengths.
Here are the final stats from the portions of passing drills that were open to the media over the last three weeks.
Spencer Rattler: 24/28 for three or four touchdowns, no interceptions
Tyler Shough: 22/28 for three touchdowns and an interception
Hunter Dekkers: 2/4 and a touchdown
One of Rattler’s potential touchdowns might have been stopped short of the endzone line. With non-contact practices, that is hard to project.
Both of the top contenders showed a propensity for the deep ball, each uncorking some big completions downfield throughout the entire OTA process. But consistency and efficiency may end up being the deciding factors in the competition, which is still very much in its infancy.
You can find further details on each of the three passing days in our OTA observations from each practice.
Up next for New Orleans will be mandatory minicamps next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The team could look to start adding full-team drills to their rotation. Otherwise, expect to see more work for the quarterbacks one way or another before they headed into the true proving ground of training camp.
