New Orleans Saints head coach Darren Rizzi will start Jake Haener at quarterback on Sunday against the Washington Commanders, as Derek Carr is still dealing with a left hand injury.
Haener was listed as a backup to start the season, and got his first action in Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs when Carr left the field with an injury. However, former head coach Dennis Allen then put his trust in rookie Spencer Rattler for the following three games as Carr remained out for several weeks.
Rattler went 0-3 in those starts, and new head coach Rizzi believes it's time for Haener to get his opportunity. Haener and Rattler split the team reps in practice on Wednesday, with Rizzi claiming it would be 'fair' for both quarterbacks to compete for the starting role on Sunday.
Haener won that battle, and will now make the first start of his NFL career on Sunday. Rizzi believes that Haener and Rattler are of similar abilities, but clearly felt more convinced by Haener following Wednesday's practice.
"They’re both guys that throw the ball well, they’re both similar size guys, athletic ability is very similar," Rizzi said. "There’ll be some nuances in the game plan, depending on which guy starts, naturally. . . . But it’s not going to be this wholesale deal."
Haener was selected in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft (127th overall), but has faced major obstacles since entering the league. After making the opening roster for the 2023 season, it was revealed that Haener had failed a drug test in the summer.
A banned performance enhancing substance resulted in Haener returning a positive test, and he was suspended for the first six weeks of the season. "I still do not know how the substance got into my body, as none of my supplements or prescribed medications contain the banned ingredient," Haener said in a statement.
Haener was then focused on making a strong start to 2024, but in July he announced that he'd been diagnosed with skin cancer. Due to it being discovered prematurely, Haener was told that it wasn't life-threatening, but needed to have a bump surgically removed from his face.
"I feel like I'm pretty young and healthy to be able to have something like that pop up," Haener said at the time. "But I want to take care of it and be responsible about it, obviously not make it a distraction because I'm going to be fine, everything's going to be taken care of."
Haener had the procedure in August, and played a preseason game in Arizona with 32 stitches in his cheek. "I get to play this game for a living," Haener told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "I’m super fortunate, and I’m going to do it for as long as I can."
