Fact: The New Orleans Saints are not going to make the NFL playoffs this year. It goes without saying that they are among the eight least likely teams to win a Super Bowl this season as well. Whether it be a first-time head coach, a first-time NFL offensive coordinator, or an aging and declining roster, nothing compares to the cast of characters occupying their laughably horrible quarterback room.
With Derek Carr abruptly retiring, first-time head coach Kellen Moore will have to find the right quarterback to help the Saints win between rookie second-round pick Tyler Shough, second-year pro Spencer Rattler and third-year pro Jake Haener. While it should be Shough's job to lose, the guy is already starting to lose it. Haener has his work cut out for him, but it might be Rattler's time to shine.
Saints analyst Nick Underhill reported from training camp on Tuesday that Rattler has emerged as QB1 for the Saints again. This is the first time we have seen the Saints go with the same player at QB1 in back-to-back days. Of course, the other guys will inevitably get reps between the ones, twos and threes before training camp reaches it conclusion. We have three preseason games to be played, too.
The Saints rolling with Rattler over Shough, and to some degree over Haener, again is certainly telling.
Rattler QB1 today. First time we’ve seen someone go back to back
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) August 5, 2025
While Shough did take some first-team reps in training camp practice on Tuesday, he really struggled.
Shough taking first team reps
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) August 5, 2025
Once again, Shough's inability to process information quickly resulted in this disastrous sequence.
First pass a near pick
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) August 5, 2025
Third pass picked https://t.co/mL7XWeZCje
More so than ever, Shough feels like a wasted pick, as the Saints need to go with Rattler in Week 1.
Tyler Shough wasted draft pick is blowing up in Saints' face in record time
In the event that Shough is a bad practice player and saves his best for the games, I will hold my tongue. However, I have never been able to get my head around the idea that this quarterback who transferred twice in seven college football seasons was worthy of being a day-two pick. If not for his final season at Louisville, I am not sure Shough should have been drafted. He looks good in shorts...
Haener may have been on the Saints' roster than both of his teammates combined, but he never had a high floor coming out of Fresno State. He is what he is, and that is totally fine. As for Rattler, he was every bit the blue-chipper coming out of high school. With an ego the size of the sun, he was quickly humbled throughout his up-and-down college career at Oklahoma before heading to South Carolina.
Even if Rattler's college career was never really anything to write home about, Shough's was even more nondescript. He is best known for soft-tossing a pitiful underhanded interception to deplorably bad Stanford during his one year at Louisville. Shough is already 25, potentially the last player to be drafted whose birth year starts with the No. 1. What were the Saints even thinking by selecting him?
While I am okay with this blowing up in my face, the egg is all over the Saints' front office now. It will have to take great coaching from Moore and first-time NFL offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier to overcome everything Shough does not bring to the table. While they need to know if he can play or not this year, maybe they already know he cannot? With Rattler starting, they get to stay employed.
Somebody has to end up with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and it might as well be the Saints.