After a long, hard-fought QB battle, the New Orleans Saints have named a starting quarterback: Spencer Rattler.
Saints head coach Kellen Moore announced the decision on Tuesday. He said it came down to consistency, and he's seen that from the second-year QB to this stage.
"I thought he did some really good things," Moore said. "Certainly the last couple weeks of practice he had consistent performances just day in and day out."
Rattler spent the offseason in a competition with No. 40 overall pick Tyler Shough and appeared to be ahead in terms of reps and by virtue of starting two of the three preseason games, but Moore kept the mystery throughout the process. The players did not know exactly when the decision would be made but were informed during individual meetings around midday Tuesday. Jake Haener was waived during the team's cuts.
“I think both of these guys are heading in the right direction," Moore said. "They’ve done a nice job. I think Spence has done a really good job of leading the charge as far as operating the offense, making really good decisions, playing really clean football. I think that’s an important aspect of this thing.”
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Rattler came into the offseason with the experience edge coming off of six starts, all losses, in relief of Derek Carr a year ago. While things might not have gone well, there's no debating the value of experience and it served him well in the QB battle.
"Spence went through some challenging things last year and for him to come out of that a better player, but then to be able to respond really, really well all offseason I think was a tremendous testament to his work ethic and his – the way his mind works," Moore continued. "I think he’s got ability to kind of rebound from a challenge, an interception, a mistake, whatever it may be, that’s one of the things that makes Spence great is his ability to just keep playing his game, keep trusting himself, keep delivering and he’s going to do that for us throughout the season.”
The Saints head coach made sure to emphasize two important points as he made his decision. One was that there would be no QB debate throughout the season, the decision was made to start Rattler, and that's who the team would rally behind. The second was that the book is far from closed on Shough. Moore highlighted the young player's progression throughout the offseason and just how close the competition truly was.
"I’m really, really excited about Spencer. He’s earned this opportunity. He’s going to do a tremendous job for us," Moore said, "but at the same time we’re really, really fortunate we’ve got Tyler. I love the development that he’s had over the course of this entire offseason. ... I’m a big believer in just, the importance of developing quarterbacks and developing them the right way, there’s a process for both of these guys, give them the space to develop and we’re going to have two guys that are going to have great careers for us. We’re excited about this process.”
The Saints open their season on Sept. 7 against the Arizona Cardinals at the Caesars Superdome.
Check back for updates.