Charean Williams ,
Facebook
The Saints drafted Tyler Shough in the second round, and they have to hope he wins the competition to replace Derek Carr as the team’s starting quarterback. But the rookie will have to beat out Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
“I don’t think this front office is just going to hand him the keys. I think he’s truly going to have to prove it ,” Saints tight end Foster Moreau said on Sirius XM NFL Radio.
Haener, a fourth-round pick in 2023, has played eight games with one start. Rattler, a fifth-round pick in 2024, has appeared in seven games with six starts. That’s 15 more appearances and seven more starts than Shough has.
The Saints don’t yet have a good feel for who will win the job.
“I’ve been part of quarterback competitions before, back in college — not me personally — but I’ve gotten to see them for a long time,” Moreau said. “Most of the time you kind of feel like guys really have an edge on each other. ‘The starter is coming back from last year, but we didn’t really like his production.’ Or different stuff like that in terms of familiarity with the player. Genuinely, we really do have a full-blown 33, 33, 33 percent competition [among] those three guys. We’ve even got another guy, Hunter Dekkers, is a lefty, and he can really spin it, too, to be honest with you.
“It’s anyone’s job for the taking. I’m excited to see how it goes.”
The competition for the job began May 10 when Carr announced his retirement , citing a labral tear and degenerative changes in his rotator cuff in his right shoulder. That opened the door to Shough potentially starting as a rookie.
Shough, 26, played 42 games at three different schools in seven college seasons.
“He’s a great guy. Hard-working dude. One of the first guys in the building, which is awesome,” Moreau said. “You always love to see that, especially from a young cat, especially from a guy at a premiere position. He’s got a great personality, a really funny sense of humor, and he works, and he’s his own worst critic. I don’t know how much more I can expect from especially a young, albeit 26-year-old, rookie quarterback.”
But Moreau calls the competition “really fiery” with no leader in the clubhouse heading into training camp.
“Some guys have looked good on Sundays. Some guys have looked good on other days,” Moreau said. “It really just depends on who can string together the most successful practices during camp, during the preseason games. Who’s really going to spin it when the bullets fly?”
Check out Mike Florio’s sequel to Father of Mine!
Catch up on the latest news from around the NFL with special episodes of PFT PM with Mike Florio weekdays at 8 a.m. ET on Peacock and the NBC Sports NOW channel.
