Brutal injury news to a player that needs every snap to compete.
OTAs started this week, and many eyes are on the New Orleans Saints’ quarterback room. Most of the focus is on the battle for QB 1 between Spencer Rattler, Tyler Shough, and Jake Haener, but there is also another battle for the third QB spot on the roster. The Saints recently signed UDFA Hunter Dekkers to a contract, while also creating a roster spot for him. Looking a bit more into this, the Saints clearly like Dekkers and believe he can make this roster, which is not great news for one of the quarterbacks. Jake Haener is the third man in the starting competition, but he is the odd man out, and it’s doubtful he will even become the Saints’ backup. This moves him down to the third spot, but with Dekkers signed to the roster, these two quarterbacks will be competing against each other throughout the rest of the offseason. The only issue is that today, it was announced that Jake Haener is set to miss the rest of OTAs with an oblique injury, per Adam Schefter.
Saints QB Jake Haener, part of a three-way competition to become the team’s starting quarterback, suffered an oblique strain at the end of Wednesday’s practice and now is expected to miss “a couple of weeks”, per league sources. Haener likely will miss the remainder of OTAs, but… pic.twitter.com/nSVcMkImze
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 22, 2025
An injury like this could make a massive difference in the quarterback battle. Being available is vital to a position battle due to how little amount of time these players need to show their worth to the team, especially when a coaching staff is completely new. If Dennis Allen and the previous regime was still with the team, a short-term injury for Haener may have not made a massive impact. With Kellen Moore as coach, he has no ties to Haener and already really likes the quarterback currently battling for the third roster spot. There is still time to change minds, but for Haener, this process is going to be an uphill battle.