The New Orleans Saints, just like every other NFL team, are underway with training camp, and throughout now and the beginning of the regular season, have some very important questions to answer.
One of the biggest being what exactly to do with the quarterback position after the surprise retirement of veteran Derek Carr, who still had two more years under contract.
A small amount of clarity was revealed on Thursday, as the team announced they'd be waiving quarterback Hunter Dekkers, who signed with theSaints as an undrafted free agent in May following a tryout at rookie minicamp.
This Likely Solidifies the Saints' QB Room
Heading into training camp, New Orleans held four quarterbacks on the roster, including Dekkers, Spencer Rattler, and Jake Haener, both of whom are entering their second seasons, as well as rookie second-round selection Tyler Shough.
However, it's not very common for NFL teams to hold that many going into the regular season, and with everyone needing to shave their rosters down to 53 players by Aug. 27, it's become likely that the Saints will settle on the three remaining.
Was Dekkers Ever a Real Threat?
Dekkers earning a spot on that 53-man roster was already a long shot, and especially so considering he was competing with three quarterbacks, who were all draft selections of the Saints in the past two years.
To make things more difficult, he only played at the community college level last season, suiting for Iowa Western, where his numbers were solid, completing 288-of-449 passes for 3,806 yards, 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The last time he played at the Division 1 level was in 2022 for the Iowa State Cyclones, where he wasn't anything special, completing 302-of-457 passes for a 66.1 completion percentage (led the Big 12), 3,044 yards, 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Dekkers also has a bit of a negative history because the reason he was forced down to the community college level was due to "permanently losing his NCAA eligibility for betting on one of the Cyclones' games," according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and Stephen Holder
Who Will be the Saints' Starting Quarterback?
Of course, with one more person out of the way, the Saints can put more focus on Shough, Rattler and Haener, while trying to decide who will be starting against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1.
A winner has yet to be decided, but in an article posted by ESPN, Dan Graziano predicts that Shough will come out on top, stating, "I'll lean toward the guy they liked enough to pick in Round 2 four months ago."
If that does end up happening, he would be the first rookie quarterback to start Week 1 for the Saints since Archie Manning did so last to start the 1971 season.
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