New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) runs a play during rookie minicamp at the indoor practice facility on Airline Drive in Metairie, La. Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
Derek Carr is retired.
Jameis Winston is a New York Giant.
And Drew Brees isn’t walking through that door.
The [New Orleans Saints](https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/) are going to sink or swim this season with their trio of young quarterbacks. Ready or not, here come Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
The Dat Pack is not just the most inexperienced and unproven quarterback room in the NFL. It’s the most inexperienced and unproven quarterback room in Saints history.
Combined, the trio has played in 15 games and thrown five touchdown passes and six interceptions. None of them has won a single NFL start.
This is where the Saints find themselves in the wake of Carr’s surprising retirement:
With six NFL starts, Ratter is the most experienced passer on the roster.
At 26 and entering his third season, Haener is the oldest and longest tenured.
And Shough, the No. 40 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, is the highest paid and most likely to start the Saints’ season opener against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 8.
In terms of experience and pedigree, it’s a far cry from a few years ago, when future Hall of Famer Drew Brees started and veteran back-ups Winston and Teddy Bridgewater were behind him.
No one really knows what to expect. Saints head coach Kellen Moore said all three players will compete for the job, but Shough and Rattler are expected to receive the bulk of the first-team reps once full-team, on-field drills start this offseason. He said team officials will not rush into a decision and will be patient before identifying a starter, meaning the competition will likely extend well into the preseason schedule in mid-August.
“(Carr’s retirement) will provide some of those younger quarterbacks a chance to get ready from a rep standpoint and an opportunity standpoint and obviously those guys will be ready and fired up for (the opportunity),” Moore said.
If no one seizes the day or the Saints don’t like what they see, team officials will consider signing a veteran quarterback to join the competition. But at this stage of the game, the options are limited.
The late resolution of the Carr situation left the Saints stuck in No Quarterback’s Land. The Saints probably would have been interested in adding someone like Daniel Jones, Jimmy Garoppolo or Jacoby Brissett if they had known sooner about Carr’s unavailability.
Now, the free agent quarterback market is barren. Carson Wentz, Tyler Huntley and Case Keenum don’t offer much of an upgrade and hardly move the needle. The lone free agent QB with star power, Aaron Rodgers, is not under consideration, according to sources, which makes sense for a team with a first-time, 36-year-old head coach.
The Saints’ best option might be to wait out the competitions in Cleveland and New York to see if a better option like Winston, Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco materializes via trade.
But make no mistake, that’s Plan B, a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency contingency situation.
Plan A is to ride with the Dat Pack.
The question is not whether the young QBs will be willing, but rather if they’ll be able.
The success of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix gives reason for optimism. Both led their teams to the playoffs in Year 1.
But they were supported by veteran teammates in the quarterback room.
What the Saints are attempting to do is rare. Extremely rare. Through staff research, we were only able to find only two other instances where a team entered the season with so little experience and pedigree at the quarterback position.
The 1993 Seattle Seahawks, who, coincidentally, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was a part of, featured a quarterback room of rookie Rick Mirer, Dan McGwire (1-1 career record) and Stan Gelbaugh (0-11). The team finished 6-10.
The Carolina Panthers entered the 2001 season with 29-year-old rookie Chris Weinke and unproven young veterans Matt Lytle and Dameyune Craig. The Panthers went 1-15.
Dubious company, for sure.
The situation exacerbates an already challenging rookie season for Moore.
No first-year Saints head coach has ever faced more difficult circumstances from a quarterback standpoint. Jim Haslett had Jeff Blake. Sean Payton had Brees. Dennis Allen had Winston and Andy Dalton.
To his credit, Moore remains undaunted. A former quarterback himself, he understands the position and can relate to his young trio of signal callers. Additionally, former quarterbacks Doug Nussmeier, Scott Tolzein and Scott Linehan are key members of his offensive staff.
“We feel great about it,” Moore said. “We feel like we’ve set this quarterback room up in a really potentially successful way with the experience that’s in that room. … We feel like it’s going to be a good, developing, melting pot for them.”
Moore has little choice other than to be optimistic. The fortunes of his first Saints team on the arms of the Dat Pack.
We know they're willing. Time will tell if they're able.