Rattler was the seventh quarterback taken in the drafter with the previous five going in the first round.
The New Orleans Saints had an interesting 2024 NFL Draft as the main reason is that they chose University of South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler. While six signal-callers were chosen in the first round, the next was Rattler in the fifth round, a steep fall-off as character concerns crashed his stock, something that Saints star Tyrann Mathieu relates to in some ways.
Mathieu was on the show “RG3 and The Ones” hosted by former player Robert Griffin III and spoke about how he knew about Rattler since he was with the Arizona Cardinals and how the quarterback played high school football in the same state. He would even call him the “Aaron Rodgers of high football” and even said that “I went through some of the same challenges.”
“You know I spent the early part of my career in Arizona. He was like the Aaron Rodgers of high school football. The kid can always spin the rock. We all go through challenging stuff, I went through some of the same challenges you know as a youngster,” Mathieu said. “You know a lot of people that I’ve talked to they’ve said he’s turned the corner.
“You know I think as a youngster man, that’s all you can ask of them is to grow and learn from things you need to learn from and then just start to put your best foot forward,” Mathieu continued. “He’s going to get a lot of work with us, we got 2,3 DB Units that can go out there, so he’s gonna get plenty of work. And then he’s in a good role too like you said man, DC is a good dude and takes a lot of punches too. He’ll learn from him, he’ll learn a lot from him, especially first year.”
Rattler's character concerns spawned in high school
As Mathieu alluded to, he had some troubles in his collegiate career as he was at one time, thrown off the LSU football team for violating substance abuse policies. He would fall to the third round, turned a corner, and became a top defensive player in the NFL.
When it comes to Rattler, the troubles happened during when he was on a high school football reality show called “QB1: Beyond the Lights” where he was not painted in the best light. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, he said that teams expressed that the way he was portrayed on the show wasn't the best and “how they can't get it out of their heads.”
“This is kind of weird to say, honestly. Spencer Rattler did a reality show in high school. It's called, ‘QB1: Beyond the Lights,'” Rapoport said via USA Today. “It did not make him look great, and it is unbelievable how many different teams mentioned to me the image of him in that show, and how they can't get it out of their heads. Which I think would be a public service announcement to all 17-year-olds, but it is fascinating as teams weigh whether or not to draft him.”
On the other hand, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler spoke to an anonymous team source and mentioned how the Rattler in high school isn't the same person in the present. They even mentioned how “he's matured a lot since then.”
“Really didn’t harp on it much — it wasn’t a big thing,” the anonymous source said to Fowler. “He’s matured a lot since then, like we all have. If there was a camera in my face when I was in high school, I wouldn’t have looked great, either. He was impressive in his interviews.”
The draft stock of Rattler is not bad besides the character concerns
There are some saying that the Saints selecting Rattler is the “steal of the draft” since he came into it with a lot of talent, but the character concerns were in some ways holding him back. Apparently, the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos were also high on Rattler according to Fowler.
“South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler‘s fall to the fifth round was, in part, a need issue. Two teams extremely high on him — the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos — drafted quarterbacks in the top 12,” Fowler wrote. “That essentially left the Las Vegas Raiders, who had made the calculation that an Aidan O’Connell–Gardner Minshew combo alleviated the need to reach for a quarterback. But make no mistake, Rattler is not perceived as 138 picks worse than Bo Nix — some evaluators had him awfully close to the same tier as Nix. One team source had zero issues with the perceived image concerns facing Rattler, whose appearance in the documentary “QB1” during his high school career did not portray his personality in the best light.”
Rattler has had an interesting career himself as coming out of high school as a top recruit, he started with the University of Oklahoma. He actually ended up losing the starting job to Caleb Williams who ended up transferring to USC and became the No. 1 pick this draft.
The 23-year old quarterback would then transfer to the University of South Carolina where he spent two seasons and in his last one, threw for 3,186 yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He looks to learn under current Saints starting quarterback Derek Carr and be their hopeful future.
Mathieu talks about the mindset of Saints
As for Mathieu, he is entering in his 12th season this fall and his third with the Saints after spending other years with the Cardinals, Houston Texans, and the Kansas City Chiefs. He said on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast that the only motto the team should have is to “work hard.”
“Our motto this year is to keep our head down and work,” Mathieu said via Yard Barker. “Don’t even cater or give in to expectations, if there are any. … We don’t even need anybody to talk about us. We just need to work hard.”
New Orleans is trying to improve after a 9-8 finish which put them second in the NFC South after a disappointing overall season with a lot of expectations around them. They look to live up to those same expectations this season as Rattler will likely learn on the sidelines.
