Tyler Shough impressed after the Saints gave him the starting job around midseason last year, showing promise after losing a competition to Spencer Rattler in training camp. Rattler now faces an uncertain NFL future.
Although resilient GM Mickey Loomis drafted Rattler, the quarterback was acquired to develop in a previous offensive system. Drafted during Klint Kubiak‘s year as the Saints’ play-caller, the former South Carolina and Oklahoma prospect has two years left on his rookie contract. Rattler came up as a possible trade option earlier this year, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter mentions the third-year QB as a player who could be moved before or during the draft.
The Saints have given Rattler 14 starts; he is 1-13 as a first-stringer. While New Orleans has not fielded a particularly good roster around Rattler — with Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed down for much of his time starting 2024 — Shough fared better with this cast as a half-season 2025 starter. Shough finished as the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up, taking the Saints out of QB consideration in this draft.
Rattler, 25, completed 67.7% of his passes in Kellen Moore‘s offense last year — a dramatic uptick from 2024 — but averaged just 6.2 yards per attempt. Rattler finished with an 8:5 TD-INT ratio, being benched after the Saints’ seventh loss. Shough went 5-4 in his starts. Shaheed played just one game during Shough’s starter stint, being traded to the Seahawks two days later; Kamara also missed six games during the Shough starter portion of the season.
Rattler will not carry too much in terms of trade value, but his status bears watching after the Saints signed Zach Wilson in free agency. New Orleans gave the former No. 2 overall pick a one-year, $1.4MM pact that includes nearly $600K guaranteed. That does not exactly protect the underwhelming passer from being released, but Wilson being brought in under Moore is notable for his chances of backing up Shough this season. No other QBs are on New Orleans’ roster.
The Jets came up as a potential Rattler suitor before reacquiring Geno Smith via trade, but a subsequent early-March report indicated the Saints had not yet received trade calls. The draft serves as a second trade window on the NFL calendar annually, and it will be interesting to see if the Saints do field calls on a player who will be competing for a backup job this offseason.
Who’s trading for him?
A rookie contract 14 game starter? Not bad as a cheap QB option. Rattler played better than his reputation, for sure. That said, he’s also not going to push your current starter on most teams. I think most teams would rather just draft one of the lower end QBs, but Rattler has more experience than would be expected given his age.
I know Shough played better with the Saints, especially at the year’s end, but the Saints absolutely did not play well around Rattler. Tons of drops and bad blocking are apparent on a lot of tape. It’s believable to see some team thinking that they could get more out of him than New Orleans did, even with as many flaws as he has as a starter.
I would trade a 7th rounder for him just to see what he can do in the Broncos system. Let’s see if Sean Payton and Davis Webb are really a quarterback whispers. He is about the same size as Bo and have a similar skill set. Also both are 26 this season with Rattler being a few months younger.
I agree, I think that Denver is a great fit, if they do decide to pull that trigger.
Teams can just wait until New Orleans inevitably cuts him and sign him for basically nothing.
That’s be smart, unless some team wants him in particular. If Rattler is cut, I’m sure that he’ll have competing bids due to the 14 games. A seventh or sixth for a backup with experience is pretty affordable. Right now, he’s also on his rookie deal, which is dirt cheap.
I’m not sure that NO will cut him, though. A team will probably be willing to do a low pick for Rattler, but if not, he can just stay with the Saints as someone who knows the system and team.
Green Bay
I heard a couple of UFL teams are interested.
He could follow the path of Johnny Manziel and Chad Kelly and play up north in the Canadian Football League.
The difference is Johnny Football was an actual star in college and a can’t miss talent whereas Rattler is currently a middling QB with a superstar’s ego.
liked him since his appearance on the Netflix QB series. He’ll get a chance elsewhere. Maybe the Cards or Steelers
Funny because that’s what made it clear to me that he’s full of himself and has a severe accountability problem.
he was a teenager
Lol and what was his excuse in college and now?
I agree that I thought the series looked bad for Rattler rather than good, but I will say that his time at Oklahoma was vastly different than his time at USC. I could of course be wrong, as all of this is speculative, but it seems that Rattler’s fall from grace did at least temper his attitude somewhat. Whether that was temporary or minor could be another question, though.