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Katherine Terrell
METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore wasn’t kidding when he said at the start of training camp that he would wait as long as it took to choose a starting quarterback.
After drafting Tyler Shough with the No. 40 pick, the Saints took 3½ months to make a decision between him and second-year passer Spencer Rattler.
“We used the whole process, obviously as everyone has felt,” Moore said Tuesday. “I think that was an important part for these young guys.”
Moore looked pleased when he announced that Rattler had won the starting job. He said he liked Rattler’s growth after a challenging rookie season. While filling in for an injured Derek Carr in two separate stints, the 2024 fifth-round pick was sacked 22 times behind an injured offensive line and saw then-coach Dennis Allen get fired midway through the season.
“Experience is very, very valuable and Spence went through some challenging things last year, and for him to come out of that a better player, but then to be able to respond really, really well all offseason, I think was a tremendous testament to his work ethic and the way his mind works,” Moore said.
“He’s got [the] ability to kind of rebound from a challenge, an interception, a mistake, whatever it may be. That’s one of the things that makes Spence great. You see his ability to just keep playing his game, keep trusting himself, keep delivering, and he’s going to do that for us throughout the season.”
The clock started ticking to find a new quarterback when Carr surprisingly retired on May 10. Carr’s decision to retire due to a lingering shoulder injury set things in motion for the next era of the franchise.
Moore, a first-time head coach who was hired in February, promised the Saints would not rush into a decision, likely knowing how pivotal his choice would be for the future of the team.
To make this decision, the Saints analyzed practice data, took into account how Rattler and Shough learned from mistakes and factored in their game performances.
When the Saints resume practice Wednesday afternoon, it will be with Rattler as the first-team quarterback and Shough running the scout team ahead of the Saints’ season opener against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 7.
It will also be the first time in decades the Saints will start the season with a quarterback they drafted and developed. The Saints haven’t gone into a season intending to start a quarterback they drafted since Archie Manning in 1971.
“This is something you worked toward your whole life,” Rattler said. “This is something I’ve dreamed of since [I was] a kid, and it’s here now and I don’t want to waste it. [I] want to go out there and make the best of it.”
MOORE HAD NOT been scheduled to speak to reporters Tuesday, so when he was put on the schedule about an hour before going to the podium, it felt like a decision was finally coming.
Moore had been firm about making sure the players were told before the public found out, and by scheduling the media session close to a team meeting, the news never leaked. The coordinators, who spoke to the media before Moore’s announcement, tried carefully not to give anything away.
Moore made three quarterback decisions that afternoon. He released third quarterback Jake Haener with an offer to return to the practice squad. He also met with both Shough and Rattler individually to deliver their new roles.
When he was done meeting with the quarterbacks, Moore had a team meeting where he announced the starter and what he was expecting from each position group this season.
“He announces everybody’s position on the team, just publicly talks about their role,” Shough said.
Moore said he wanted to make sure the entire team was on the same page, not just regarding the quarterback, but all other roles as well.
“Part of the next week really is really defining roles for everyone on this team, and that’s a challenging part of this as well,” Moore said. “Everyone wants to get on the field, but ultimately to be a really successful team, to be a connected team, everyone needs to know their piece of this and how they’re all fitting in while they’re still competing.”
Rattler barely had time on Tuesday afternoon to check his phone after the news broke. He said he texted his parents to tell them the decision, and then moved ahead to game planning for the Cardinals.
“The news drops and everybody hits you up, but I’ll probably talk to some close people. I don’t like to talk too much about it … it’s just, ‘Hey, onto the next day, next opportunity and keep working,'” Rattler said.
Rattler agreed that he was happy to put the competition aside and move forward.
“It’s good to know who they’re rolling with before Week 1, I guess you can say. So, happy with that,” Rattler said. “It’s definitely off my shoulders, but this is something I worked toward and expected, so I wanted to come out here and compete all training camp, all preseason and did a great job with everybody.”
WHY DID THE Saints go with Rattler, who went 0-6 as a starter while filling in for an injured Carr?
Consistency was one of the main reasons, but it wasn’t the only reason.
Saints offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said he liked Rattler’s confidence and “swag.” Moore liked Rattler’s mobility and ability to make plays with his legs. He joked that Rattler’s 4.9-second 40-yard dash speed was the “fakest 4.9 ever.”
“He’s an aggressive player and that’s one of his superpowers,” Moore said. “But he’s done a really good job of balancing that out and making really good decisions with the football.”
There was a clear separation when training camp started between Rattler and Shough. Rattler had been through one training camp and an entire season, while Shough was still finding his footing as a rookie.
Rattler seemed more at ease operating the offense in his first week than Shough, and even Haener, considered a longshot to win the job, had some impressive practices. Rattler seemed more likely to try to take a shot downfield in those early practices, which Moore liked, while Shough was less likely to take risks.
If Shough and Rattler had gone looking for hints as to who had the upper edge, which Shough admitted he did at times this summer, they could have read into certain things:
Rattler was the first-team quarterback when the first practice of training camp opened. He was the starting quarterback for both the first and last preseason games.
While the Saints divided up first-team snaps among all the quarterbacks in the competition, Rattler was the one who got the initial first team snaps in the Saints scrimmages and joint practices against the Los Angeles Rams. Throughout all of training camp, he was only with the third-team offense for one practice.
“They’ve done a really good job of just giving us … equal chances as far as reps and times to take control of the room or times to share the different roles,” Shough said. “… But also, it’s hard because you don’t really get a certain flow, but I think that’s part of it. But for me it’s human nature to want to do that.”
But Rattler’s early lead didn’t last.
The Saints held a 126-play scrimmage on Aug. 3, an exhausting session where the coaches were calling the plays live. Shough has said he feels he thrives in these situations, and he took a noticeable step forward that day.
While Shough made some mistakes in the red zone, he was able to move the offense up and down the field and completed the only touchdown drive that day. When the team headed off to California, Haener was clearly fading from the competition and Shough was making things close against Rattler.
In the first preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Shough, coming in as the backup, threw a pick-six but rebounded nicely with a 54-yard touchdown pass to Mason Tipton, showing off his arm and keeping himself in the conversation.
“Both players have been very resilient,” Nussmeier said. “They’ve had great days, they’ve had not so great days. They’ve bounced back. Just when you think maybe somebody’s about to separate, the other guy bounces right back and makes a great plays. So, it’s been a fun competition to watch.”
But it would be hard to shake off Rattler’s early lead, especially after the second preseason game, in which Rattler led the team down the field against the Jacksonville Jaguars to tie the game with a touchdown to Dante Pettis in the final seconds.
“His end of the Jacksonville game was an awesome opportunity for him,” Moore said. “He did an excellent job. He brought the team back … We felt like we had one more excellent week, where, when you have three practices, we had a lot of game situations within those practices. I know most people don’t get to see those. We get to see them and obviously evaluate them and then cap it off with the game. I felt like he performed through the last seven to 10 days really well.”
While Shough ran in for an 11-yard touchdown in the preseason finale, it was Rattler who worked with the starting offense for three drives before leaving the game — a sign that the Saints might have already known what they wanted to do.
“The last couple of weeks of practice I thought he had just consistent performances day in and day out … Felt like he checked it off with the last preseason game,” Moore said.
While both quarterbacks said after the game that they felt ready and capable to start, Moore said the decision wasn’t going to come for a few more days.
So like everyone else, the quarterbacks waited.
“We were all in the dark as you are. We were all waiting,” Shough said. “But for us, it didn’t change the daily approach, and that was the best part about this whole thing, was day-to-day competing, me and Spence, and just having fun with it.”
Now that the decision is made, everyone involved was adamant there would be no quarterback controversy. While Shough admitted he was disappointed as a competitor, he said he planned to support Rattler however he could.
From this point on, Rattler is the guy.
“There’s nothing easy about this decision,” Moore said. “I think the big thing is Spencer’s a starter. We’re supporting him. He’s going to go lead this thing. Tyler’s going to keep developing, and I think we’re in a great position.”