New Orleans Saints
By Ross Jackson
Over the last few New Orleans Saints practices, the team looks to have made a conscious decision to narrow the competition at quarterback. No one from the Saints, including head coach Kellen Moore, has declared anything outright, and any quarterback could still earn the job with a standout performance, but in New Orleans, actions have spoken louder than words.
The Saints’ starting quarterback battle is down to second-year passer Spencer Rattler and rookie Tyler Shough. This comes after three consecutive practices of third-year quarterback Jake Haener being seemingly limited to more third-team and developmental roles.
The Sunday Scrimmage
Starting back at the big 126-play scrimmage over the weekend, Haener was set to be next in that rotation to take first team snaps. Removing the Day 6 walkthrough, the team has established a clear rhythm with its first-team quarterbacks.
#Saints QB rotation so far (1-2-3):
Day 1: Rattler, Shough, Haener
2: Shough, Rattler, Haener
3: Haener, Rattler, Shough
4: Rattler, Shough, Haener
5: Shough, Rattler, Haener
6: Walkthru
7: Haener, Rattler, Shough
8: Rattler, Shough, Haener
9: Shough, Haener, Rattler— John Sigler (@john_siglerr) August 2, 2025
The Rattler, Shough, Haener rotation broke down during the scrimmage day where Rattler received first team reps despite Haener being next in the rotation.
That was the first sign of Haener’s potential fading from the competition.
On that day, Rattler received six drives, Shough was given eight and Haener saw just four. While Rattler was with the first team offense on five of his six drives and faced the first-team defense on all six, Haener saw no first team offensive series and only faced the starting defense once.
Tuesday’s Practice
During the team’s final practice in Metairie, La. at their home facility, the trend continued. For a second consecutive practice, Rattler was with the first team while Shough took snaps with the second.
For the final drive of practice, Rattler and Shough switched teams for a split-field team drill session while Haener watched on and took developmental reps after the practice had concluded.
First Day in California
This continued again as the team arrived on the West Coast. Its first practice had Shough with the first team, Rattler with the second and the same switch as Tuesday for the final drives of practice. And much like Tuesday, Haener watched on after spending his day with the third team and ran developmental drills at the end.
Each of these decisions over the last few practices seem to indicate that Haener is being phased out of the quarterback competition with his likely best bet remaining in the preseason game to impress. As of now, it seems that the focus of the battle has shifted to the duel between Rattler and Shough.
