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NEW ORLEANS — When the New Orleans Saints begin training camp in late July, one of the more unique position battles will be for a backup role.
Quarterbacks Jake Haener, the Saints’ 2023 fourth-round pick, and Spencer Rattler, a fifth-round pick this year, will battle to back up Derek Carr, a spot vacated when Jameis Winston signed with the Cleveland Browns in March.
“That thing is going to battle out all throughout training camp,” said Saints coach Dennis Allen.
The Saints took an unusual approach to building their quarterback room this year by selecting Rattler just a year after taking Haener with a mid-round pick. The team also selected Nathan Peterman during free agency.
That didn’t bother Haener, who has dreams of being a starting quarterback one day.
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“I’m going to be as prepared as I can,” Haener said. “Just because there’s a little competition, [it] doesn’t scare me. This is the NFL and at the end of the day, if I want to accomplish my goals, I’m going to have to compete with a lot of different people.”
The move marked the first time since the 1990 season that the Saints had drafted quarterbacks of a similar age. New Orleans selected quarterbacks Mike Buck in the sixth round and Gerry Gdowski in the eighth round of a 12-round draft that year.
“I don’t know, however long Derek wants to keep playing, they’ve got to try to potentially draft somebody … to try to potentially set things up for the future,” Haener said. “And if that’s me and Spencer, then whoever is better and whoever can set this organization up for future success, then all for it. That’s kind of how I see it.”
It’s also a role reversal for a team that only selected two primary quarterbacks in the draft in the Drew Brees era from 2006-2020. They’ve drafted three quarterbacks since Brees retired, including Ian Book in 2021.
Here’s how the backup battle — and the quarterback room at large — has looked this offseason:
If Carr has had any struggles adapting to the sixth offensive coordinator of his career, he didn’t show it in the offseason practices open to the media.
Carr, 33, is entering Year 2 with the Saints and his first under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. On the final day of minicamp, he admitted it’s been a “mental” grind to learn a new offense and improve off the end of last season.
“I asked myself, ‘How can I be better in this first year?’ And I look at everything I’m doing, and I just tried to take it all to just an extreme level of mental capacity … hopefully I’m not showing it too much, but I’m tired,” Carr said, laughing. ” … We have been pushing so hard to make sure we can come out and just be playing good football from the start. I don’t have any promises, I don’t have any guarantees that it’s going to be better, I just know that we did more.”
The Saints struggled in the red zone for the first half of the season but improved in the final month, winning four of the last five games and meshing better as an offense.
That wasn’t enough to save offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael’s job, and the Saints looked for a new person to take over that role for the first time since the 2009 season.
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That meant change for Carr, who said he bumped up his conditioning routine to get ready for some of the new things he’ll be asked to do this year, such as more play action concepts. He said he’s a little lighter at this point than he was last year.
“Overall conditioning, I just took things to a different level. … I just want to make sure that I could run all day,” Carr said. “I’ve got to make my bootleg look the same … as when I hand the ball off and then I boot away.”
Carr said he started to feel comfortable in the offense midseason last year, although physically it took longer because of a shoulder injury sustained against the Green Bay Packers in Week 3.
He said that he’s been impressed with how Kubiak and his staff have acclimated everyone to the offense. Carr said if he even had a slight hesitation regarding anything, Kubiak has always been available and ready with a solution.
“He always has a defined answer to help me just play fast,” he said. “I think he’s a really great coach and I’m glad we have him.”
Haener’s rookie season got off to a tough start last year after he was suspended for the first six games for violating the NFL’s performance enhancing drug policy.
Haener never played in a regular season game in 2023 and was the third quarterback behind Carr and Winston (with Taysom Hill in the fold as well to take over backup duties if needed).
That looked far in the past during practice this summer. Haener looked sharp throughout OTAs and minicamp and said that he did not throw an interception until the second day of minicamp on June 12.
“As far as the progressions and everything, I’m still getting my feet and my timing and all that dialed in. I think that’s what this time is for,” Haener said. “I think (the coaches have) done a really good job of not letting us get comfortable and forcing us to every day stretch our mind and really push us.”
Haener said that he’s feeling comfortable in the offense heading into Year 2, and part of the reason is because of a retooled playbook under Kubiak.
“There’s a lot on your plate as a rookie, you know? There’s new people, new system, new coaching. … I feel like this system too kind of helps us see things a little clearer,” Haener said. “I guess the terminology it’s not … what Drew did. So when this was taught to Drew in 2009, I wasn’t even 10 years old yet. It made sense to Drew but it might not make sense to Jake Haener in 2024, 15 years later.”
Haener said he thinks the changes have allowed him to learn things faster.
“So I feel really confident going through the huddle, calling things, knowing where they are, knowing the formations, knowing the plays and the concepts and the reads with my footwork,” Haener said.
Rattler had an up and down start to the Saints offseason practices, and was picked off several times during the OTA practices that were open to the media.
Allen said that’s all part of the learning process.
“Part of it, out here during this time, and even during training camp, is figuring out what you can do and what you can’t do,” Allen said during OTAs, “And if I never really take a chance, then I never really know what you can or can’t do in our league. And I think you find out here that the windows close a little faster than they do in college.”
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Rattler seemed to settle in by minicamp, and he got some time with the second-team offense during minicamp.
“I feel very comfortable, just getting out there. We’re so big on footwork and timing. It’s never perfect,” Rattler said.
Rattler and Haener said they have been swapping time with the second and third string offense, although Rattler only had one stint with the second-team during practices open to the media.
Rattler and Haener were both intercepted during minicamp, with Marshon Lattimore getting the best of Rattler in team drills and Haener throwing an errant pass to undrafted rookie defensive back Millard Bradford.
“He’s an All-Pro, top guy in the game, so if anybody got me, I’m glad it’s him. At the end of the day, he made a great play,” Rattler said.
Rattler said the speed of the NFL has been fast, but ultimately “football is football.”
“Obviously we haven’t been in full pads, full speed yet, but just getting timing down with the plays, listening to your feet, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Rattler said. “But I’m getting used to it.”
Peterman has a history with Saints quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, having worked together with the Chicago Bears in 2022-23. He was Carr’s teammate with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020-2021. He signed a one-year deal with New Orleans during free agency.
However, Peterman would be a long shot to make the roster with the amount of money and draft capital the Saints have already invested into the other quarterbacks. So far, he’s gotten only one or two reps at a time behind the other quarterbacks in team drills.
He could potentially be a practice squad candidate if the Saints want to keep a second veteran presence around to help Carr.
“I’ve played with Nate, I know how Nate operates, I know how Nate prepares, he is the ultimate professional, and I think that’s why coaches love him, and players love him,” Carr said. ” … Great teammate, great leader, encouraging. Helping guys on the side, stuff no one will see, but he’s there doing it.”