Saints got even luckier than we realized with Spencer Rattler's NFL Draft fall

The New Orleans Saints haven't been able to find their long-term solution at quarterback ever since Drew Brees retired after the 2020 season. While the team does have Derek Carr, he did underperform in his first season with the team, in which he signed a four-year, $150 million contract. This year in the NFL Draft, the Saints drafted a potential successor in South Carolina's Spencer Rattler in the fifth round.

A couple of years ago, Rattler was deemed a future No. 1 overall pick. But after flaming out in Oklahoma, his stock dropped. But after thriving in South Carolina, Rattler emerged as potential Day 2 pick. But why did he fall to Round 5? Well, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport revealed that some teams were turned off by Rattler and how he was portrayed in Netflix's reality show QB1...when he was in high school. As ridiculous as that sounds, considering Rattler was only in high school at the time of the show, there is more to his fall, and it benefitted the Saints.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler revealed in his latest article ($) that Rattler's fall down to the fifth round had more to do with a "need issue." As in, teams that needed a quarterback dwindled. Fowler notes that the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos were "extremely high" on Rattler, but they took Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix, respectively.

Spencer Rattler's fall down NFL Draft boards related to 'need issue'

"South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler's fall to the fifth round was, in part, a need issue," writes Fowler. "Two teams extremely high on him -- the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos -- drafted quarterbacks in the top 12. That essentially left the Las Vegas Raiders, who had made the calculation that an Aidan O'Connell-Gardner Minshew combo alleviated the need to reach for a quarterback.

"But make no mistake, Rattler is not perceived as 138 picks worse than Bo Nix -- some evaluators had him awfully close to the same tier as Nix."

With the Falcons and Broncos taking quarterbacks early on in the first round, that left two potential landing spots off the table for Rattler. With that, Rattler's draft stock fell into the hands of every team and who was willing to take a flier on him at some point. Ultimately, it was the Saints, who decided 138 picks after Nix was taken by the Broncos, that they would be the ones to draft Rattler.

Rattler was touted as a potential No. 1 pick years ago for a reason. He has incredible arm talent, including power and accuracy. It just so happens that Rattler had a bad year at Oklahoma, ultimately being benched by teammate and ironically the No. 1 pick this year in Caleb Williams. While transferring over to South Carolina, Rattler showed what he could do, even leading the program to upsets over Kentucky, Tennessee, and Clemson in 2022.

Realistically, Rattler will have to develop a bit in the NFL before having a chance to start. But the upside is there. If all things pan out, it may not be out of the realm of possibility that Rattler gets a start at some point in the next couple of years.