The New Orleans Saints have an exciting training camp battle coming up with 2024 fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler and 2025 second-round pick Tyler Shough. Shough may be the favorite to win the job, but it’s definitely up in the air. Third-year backup Jake Haener, a former fourth-round pick himself, is also in the mix.
Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton recently came up with some bold predictions across NFL training camps, and one of his was Rattler beating Shough for the starting job to open the season. His reasoning was mainly due to Rattler just having more experience both in the NFL and from back in college.
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"Even though Shough spent six years in college, he may need time to grasp the speed of the pro game," Moton wrote. "Rattler was the primary backup over Haener last season. He'll stay ahead of him on the depth chart and beat out Shough for a second chance to showcase his talent in a starting role."
Rattler certainly has a shot to win the job, but will likely be starting behind the eight-ball due to Shough being “Kellen Moore’s guy” that the new coach drafted in the second round. Neither player has experience in Moore’s offense, so it will come down to who can perform better in the moment.
Shough battled injuries throughout his college career and only had one full season of starting with the Louisville Cardinals. That one year was solid, though. He completed 62.7% of his passes with 3,195 yards with 23 touchdowns to six interceptions. Not many draft analysts expected him to be as high a pick as he was until the actual draft got closer, given that he was a guy that the NFL liked way more.
There must have been something about Shough’s game that Moore loved to draft him so high and stake a bit of his first coaching job on him. They might not want to just wait around and have him sit, especially since the other option isn’t someone who was a first-rounder or anything.
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That isn’t to say that Rattler doesn’t deserve a shot at the job, though. He was dealt the short end of the stick when he got his first chance in the NFL. The Saints' offense was pieced together after a ton of injuries. He flashed some potential, and it would be fun to see what he could do with a healthy squad. The competition may just end up coming down to more of what Shough doesn’t do rather than what Rattler does, unless the latter has a special performance.
