{"id":231447,"date":"2025-05-05T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=231447"},"modified":"2025-05-05T07:00:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T11:00:29","slug":"nfl-exec-provides-clarity-on-saints-messy-quarterback-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/05\/05\/nfl-exec-provides-clarity-on-saints-messy-quarterback-room\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Exec Provides Clarity on Saints Messy Quarterback Room"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New Orleans Saints quarterback room is in disarray, as veteran Derek Carr could miss the season with a shoulder injury while <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/24\/2025-nfl-draft-scouting-report-tyler-shough-louisville\/\" target=\"_self\">rookie Tyler Shough<\/a> and youngsters Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener battle for what might be an unoccupied QB1 spot. Shough is one of the most controversial draft picks in recent memory, as New Orleans used a top-40 selection on a player who will be 26 when Week 1 rolls around. Rattler and Haener, meanwhile, had their opportunities last year but never did enough to establish themselves as the future of the organization.<\/p>\n<p>While the offseason will ultimately determine who wins the Saints quarterback battle, one anonymous NFL executive believes Tyler Shough is the clear frontrunner, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6327490\/2025\/05\/02\/nfl-draft-2025-nfc-teams-giants-bears\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Sando of <em>The Athletic<\/em><\/a>. &#8220;I&#8217;d be surprised if the quarterback is not starting for them. He has the arm talent. He is really smart. He comes across as a veteran already. With him, it&#8217;s about staying healthy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_231449\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-231449\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-231449\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Derek Carr Saints Quarterback\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Derek-Carr-Saints-Quarterback.jpg 1315w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-231449\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dec 15, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr (4) after a touchdown against the Washington Commanders during the second half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>NFL Exec: Tyler Shough Will Win Saints Quarterback Battle<\/h2>\n<p>This is a safe assessment for several reasons. First and foremost is the draft capital. Tyler Shough probably wouldn&#8217;t have been a second-round pick if he weren&#8217;t part of a weak quarterback class, but <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/03\/23\/brandin-cooks-kellen-moores-saints-offense\/\" target=\"_self\">first-year head coach Kellen Moore<\/a> and company believed in him enough to use an early second-round pick to secure his services. While he is a rookie, he&#8217;s not a spring chicken, so the team will want to see him on the field as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/02\/19\/spencer-rattler-dynasty-outlook\/\" target=\"_self\">fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler<\/a> didn&#8217;t make the most of his opportunities last year. While he had his moments, he ultimately went 0-6 in his six starts while completing just 57% of his passes for 1,371 yards, 5.8 yards per attempt, four touchdowns, and five interceptions. Maybe he can develop into a servicable backup, but these aren&#8217;t the numbers of a potential franchise quarterback. Jake Haener, meanwhile, only made one start through his two years in the league and looked terrible while on the field. Depending on Carr&#8217;s health, he may not make the roster.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Stephen Lew &#8211; Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Saints have a confusing quarterback room with veteran Derek Carr, Spencer Rattler, and rookie Tyler Shough fighting for the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":231448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,28],"tags":[231,9728,7659,8553,9819],"class_list":["post-231447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-saints","tag-derek-carr","tag-jake-haener","tag-saints-featured","tag-spencer-rattler","tag-tyler-shough"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231447"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231539,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231447\/revisions\/231539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}