The Saints designated Jameis Winston as a post-June 1 cut, leaving the position of Derek Carr‘s backup open. Carr’s health issues last season made that role more relevant than it was in Oakland and Las Vegas. 
Nathan Peterman is heading to New Orleans to be one of Carr’s backups, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football tweets. Peterman has experience as a Carr backup, being one of the Raiders’ reserves under Jon Gruden, and has worked with new Saints QBs coach Andrew Janocko with the Bears. Peterman’s deal is for one year and worth the veteran minimum, Underhill notes.
Peterman spent the past two seasons in Chicago, finding himself on and off the Bears’ active roster. He was released during final roster cutdowns in August, confirmation that UDFA Tyson Bagent won out Chicago’s backup quarterback competition. Peterman was ultimately brought back into the fold later on in the year, though, and he remained on the active roster from mid-October onwards.
New Orleans faced increased expectations on offense after using Winston and veterans like Andy Dalton under center in previous years. Carr – who inked a four-year, $150MM deal – had an up-and-down showing while battling injury for part of the campaign. A new offensive staff is in place for 2024, and Carr will face pressure to perform under Klint Kubiak, especially given the fact his 2025 salary does not become guaranteed until next March.
Much of New Orleans’ success on offense will of course depend on the play of Carr, but Peterman could be tasked with stepping in for him if needed. The Saints also have 2023 fourth-rounder Jake Haener (who was issued a six-game PED suspension to start the year) along with Swiss Army knife Taysom Hill as other QB options.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
how can Nate Petterman still be getting NFL checks
He must have pictures of Goodell in compromising positions. Best job in the league for far too many years
You never know when you might need someone to work on the team’s marketing catalog.
how is this guy still getting work? is he a left handed pitcher?
You mean Kenny Pickett? Sorry they’re interchangeable.
Picket may be slightly better
Ironically, I think more teams will want to take advantage of the designated third string QB rule now than they did when it first went into effect last year. Peterman will not be Carr’s only backup. If no one’s willing to trade for Zach Wilson, I could see the Jets keeping him as third string instead of taking the dead cap hit. With Aaron Rodgers’ potential to run for VP, they may want to keep two backups and draft a QB.
That rule really keeps you up at night, doesnt it?
Now the Saints just need to sign Mike Glennon and DeShone Kizer to transplant the entire Raiders QB depth chart from September 2019…lol
Surely Peterman is a nice guy and a good bench presence, but I don’t understand this either. He has been bad everywhere he played. Aren’t there more hopeful QBs out there?
Gruß,
BSHH
Peterman!
The greatest practice player ever!
This signing is difficult to figure out. A-ha! In case Carr gets injured, the Saints are planning to tank. No QB on an NFL roster can tank as well as Peterman.
Hey, you can’t tell this story now. It belongs to Peterman. You signed the release. He backed up David Carr, not you. It never happened, you understand?
Carr and Perterman reunion?
This has Jon Gruden written all over it.
The greatest QB of all time let’s keep it a hundred