CLEVELAND, Ohio — The New Orleans Saints selected their eight team captains for the 2025 season, three of which are on the offensive side: Brandin Cooks, Alvin Kamara and Erik McCoy.
That does not include quarterback Spencer Rattler, who was just named the starter last week.
This makes New Orleans one of the 27 teams to name their captains so far to not include their quarterback.
As for Rattler, he doesn’t mind it.
“I’m not looking too deep into that,” Rattler said. “Obviously, the guys we have on the offensive side are very experienced, great veterans on our team and (are) very deserving of it. I think we picked the right guys.“
Each of those offensive members do have the experience over Rattler, and the 28-year old McCoy is the youngest of that bunch.
But Rattler understands his position naturally overlaps with opportunities to lead.
“You want to earn the respect of your teammates and fight for them because they’re going to fight for you, you don’t have to be a captain to lead,” Rattler said. “As a quarterback, you’re naturally going to be a leader, so (I’m) stepping into that role fully and attacking it.”
New Orleans drafted Rattler 150th overall in 2024, where he was one of three quarterbacks to hit the field.
Rattler started six games that season, but had a winless starting record, while throwing for 1,317 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.
Rattler beat out New Orleans’ 40th overall selection in Tyler Shough for the starting job ahead of Week 1.
And as he said, will have opportunities to show leadership, whether or not he holds the ‘captain’ tag.
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