Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
The time is finally upon the New Orleans Saints. As the early dawn of training camp nears, the quarterback battle gets under way.
The Saints will effectively have two battles ongoing. One that will provide a starter and primary backup and another that will produce the team’s third emergency passer. Both will get under way in earnest Wednesday, July 23, as camo kicks off. That’s assuming that all four quarterbacks report. If not, then once they do, things will get off and running in a hurry.
Here are the four quarterbacks and what they are competing to earn.
Spencer Rattler
The talented second-year passer has six starts under his belt. While all were loses for the team in 2024, they also weren’t the best of situations to be thrust into. The passer only had his top two wide receivers for one of those matchups and played behind an injured and struggling interior offensive line.
Going into year two, Rattler has a lot of opportunity to build the offense along with new head coach Kellen Moore and step into a Week One starting role. That’s the main job for which he will compete as camp gets under way.
The key thing Rattler will need to showcase is simply growth. As the player in the position group with the most NFL starts under his belt, the coaching staff will be looking at his development as a measure of his readiness.
Tyler Shough
The exciting rookie enters the ring having done almost everything right up to this point. He has embraced the city, proven his maturity and shown initiative all throughout the offseason.
Now, he’ll look to build on that momentum as he heads into his chance to be a rookie starter in the league.
The biggest element that Shough will have to prove is his ability to handle the pressure. But the pressure of being an NFL quarterback, something every first-time starter or rookie starter will have to prove and the literal pressure he’ll face with the ball in his hands.
Shough completed just 42.3% of his passes under pressure last year at Louisville and was given a 68.9 passer rating under pressure. If he shows in the league that can turn those performances around, he may make it very tough to keep him off of the field. The Saints can aid this by making sure he doesn’t see nearly as much pressure as he saw in college (35.5% of his dropbacks).
Jake Haener
The confident third-year passer is now entering his third NFL offense under his third NFL play caller. Not an ideal way to enter the league.
However, if he can overcome that and show that his high football IQ puts him in position to learn and operate yet another scheme, that could be valuable.
Haener may not be competing for the starting position, though head coach Kellen Moore has consistently included him in those conversations, but even as an emergency third gameday quarterback, he could bring a lot of value.
Hunter Dekkers
The impressive lefty joins the club as an undrafted rookie after catching eyes during a rookie minicamp tryout.
Dekkers lit up the JCAA ranks after finding his way back to the game after his dismissal from Iowa State and now has turned around his path toward becoming an NFL quarterback. He’ll be battling most immediately for the third quarterback spot with Haener.
Dekkers has an advantage of being handpicked by the new Saints’ coaching staff much like Shough. But also like Shough, Dekkers has earned his vote of confidence. All he has to show is that he belongs the way the staff and analysts see he does.
Should he do that, the Saints could be looking at a young riser as their third passer on the depth chart or even practice squad.
