Saints Analyst Surprised With QB Production Despite 0-2 Start

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The New Orleans Saints had quite a heated quarterback battle in the offseason. Rookie Tyler Shough battled with second-year signal caller Spencer Rattler throughout the preseason and training camp before Rattler earned the starting job right before the regular season began.
Rattler has flashed a lot of potential in the first two weeks. While getting in the endzone was an issue in Week 1, it wasn't in Week 2. Rattler made accurate passes throughout both games, putting the Saints in a position to win in Week 1 and Week 2. Unfortunately, the Saints came out of each game as the losers.
FanSided's Jake Beckman recently suggested the Saints' Rattler experiment was going better than he thought, before sharing some praise for the young New Orleans signal caller.
Spencer Rattler is receiving a lot of high praise heading into Week 3

"In 2024, Spencer Rattler started six games for the Saints, and he was otherworldly terrible. He had a 57 percent completion rate, threw for 1,317 yards, four touchdowns, five interceptions, and he did it all while looking panicky and uncomfortable for every single second of it," Beckman wrote "They drafted Tyler Shough in the second round of the draft and were weirdly high on him. He ended up losing the quarterback battle to Rattler, and the general vibe was, ‘Well, here we go again.’
"Turns out… not that bad. Yeah, the Saints have an expected 0-2 record, but it hasn’t been because of terrible quarterbacking. Rattler’s been dealing decently well: He’s connected with seven different receivers, and he hasn’t turned the ball over. That’s totally fine."
The season is far from over, so it's impossible to have a verdict on Rattler's future with New Orleans just yet, but if he continues to improve over the next few weeks, the Saints may have their franchise quarterback on the roster already.
A lot of outlets have been predicting the Saints would take a quarterback at the top of the 2026 NFL Draft, but Rattler could be throwing a wrench in those plans. Shough was expected to take over at some point this season, but Rattler might not let that happen.
The young quarterback isn't a superstar right now, but he's certainly trending in the right direction.
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Zach Pressnell has experience covering all major US sports at both the professional and collegiate levels. He’s produced content for FanSided, Blog Red Machine, The Game Haus, Bethany College Athletics and the Bethany College online newspaper, He graduated from Bethany College (WV) with a degree in Communications and Media Arts, specializing in Sports Journalism. Pressnell was also a four-year member of the baseball team where he earned himself All-PAC recognition as a pitcher (and a cool Tommy John surgery scar). Now, Pressnell specializes in NFL and MLB coverage for Sports Illustrated’s “On SI” network among others. For all business/marketing inquiries, reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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