Spencer Rattler will start for New Orleans in their meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, coach Dennis Allen announced on Wednesday.
“We talked a lot as a staff about what we felt like was the best thing for us and give us the best chance to win the game,” Allen said, via the team website. “That was the decision that we made and we’re excited about him getting the opportunity to go in there, and we’ll let him go play and see what he can do.”
Rattler has not yet appeared in a regular season game but performed well enough in preseason action (20 of 38, 202 yards, one touchdown) to get Saints fans talking quietly about his potential. Now that Carr has suffered an oblique injury that is expected to keep him out for multiple weeks, New Orleans is deciding to take a look at Rattler, who they’re choosing over backup Jake Haener. When Carr was injured Monday in the Saints’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Haener entered the game, while Rattler was the emergency third QB. Now he’ll be QB1.
A former five-star prospect out of Arizona, Rattler began his collegiate career at Oklahoma before transferring to South Carolina after losing his starting job to Caleb Williams. He left Columbia after completing 67.5% of his passes for 6,212 yards, 37 touchdowns and 20 interceptions, but didn’t attract a ton of attention in a QB-laden 2024 draft class, leading to his fifth-round selection (150th overall).
With Drake Maye due to make his first start for New England on Sunday, Rattler and Maye will become the fourth and fifth rookie quarterbacks to start a game in the 2024 season. Rattler will be the first rookie quarterback selected outside of the first round, however.
