Monday couldn’t have gone much worse for the New Orleans Saints. Not only did they lose 26-13 to the Kansas City Chiefs, Derek Carr was forced to leave the game with an injury. Carr’s injury opened the door for 2023 fourth-round pick Jake Haener, who completed 2-of-7 passes for 17 yards. Needless to say, Haener didn’t create a spark for Klint Kubiak’s offense.
On Tuesday, we learned that Carr would miss multiple weeks with an oblique injury. With two games in nine days, this means the Saints will likely be without their starting quarterback against the Buccaneers and Broncos. Naturally, the expectation would be for Haener to start in Week 6, yet, that may not be the case.
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New Orleans Saints could start Spencer Rattler over Jake Haener
The New Orleans Saints made Jake Haener the 127th overall pick in 2023. He didn’t get into a game during his rookie year, waiting until Week 1 of the 2024 season to see the field. Now that Derek Carr won’t be able to start in Week 6, one would think it’s Haener’s turn, but that may not be true.
According to Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, now the Saints are giving “strong” consideration to making Spencer Rattler their starting quarterback instead.
More on the #Saints’ QB situation: Rookie fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler is a strong candidate to get the start in Derek Carr’s absence, sources tell me and @RapSheet.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 8, 2024
With Drake Maye getting the ball for the #Patriots, that would make five rookie QBs to get a start this year. pic.twitter.com/QCk6CvxS8x
Related: What to know about New Orleans Saints backup QB Jake Haener
Rattler performed well during the preseason after the Saints selected him with the 150th overall pick in the fifth round back in April. He’s yet to see the field, because he’s the third QB in New Orleans.
Either way, with Haener being just 25 and Rattler being 24, Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak will be forced to turn over the NFL’s fourth-highest scoring offense over to an inexperienced QB making his first start.
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