
The quarterback battle is officially underway.
The New Orleans Saints kicked off training camp on Wednesday morning, which signified the real start of the quarterback battle. It’s been an ongoing process since Tyler Shough was drafted in April, but training camp is when the battle really gets underway.
In a not-so-shocking move, Spencer Rattler – the most experienced quarterback on the roster in terms of NFL snaps played – took first-team reps today, but that will not be the case tomorrow according to Kellen Moore.
“Spencer Rattler took about all the [first-team reps] today. Tyler [Shough] will take them tomorrow, and we’ll continue to rotate all these guys.”
Moore, who enters his first year as the Saints head coach, drafted Shough with the 40th overall pick in the draft. The 25-year-old rookie is expected to compete for the starting job right away, but he’ll have to beat out Rattler in order to do so.
Both Shough and Rattler were in attendance for OTAs earlier this year, and after evaluating the numbers, Moore says they were virtually dead even in every category.
“We have a bunch of statistics and stuff based off OTAs and these guys have literally the same exact numbers in every category. They’re very consistent throughout this whole process.”
With their performances in OTAs being so close, Moore said both guys will start training camp on a level playing field. Rattler got the first-team reps on day one because he’s been in New Orleans longer, but they will continue to rotate both guys throughout.
“Spencer has obviously been here one more year, so we’ll start with him and go from there.”
It’s important to note that, when talking about the quarterbacks taking first-team reps in training camp, Jake Haener was not mentioned. Not too surprising, but it doesn’t seem he’s in the running for the starting job.
This is the first real QB battle New Orleans has had in decades, and it’s going to come down to the wire. Every rep counts in position battles like this, so both guys better be sure to bring their A game every day if they hope to win the starting job.