After drafting Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener a year apart, who holds upper hand in Saints’ QB battle of the future?

IRVINE, Calif. — Andrew Janocko was a little disappointed.

The New Orleans Saints quarterback coach believed he had the perfect imagery to describe Thursday’s practice approach. He was excited to set the tone for a practice heavy on situational work, challenging his quarterbacks in red-zone and two-minute scenarios before they hit the preseason field days later.

So Janocko told 2014 second-rounder Derek Carr, 2023 fourth-rounder Jake Haener and 2024 fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler that this was going to be their “Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man look.”

“A ‘Ghostbusters’ reference that neither Spencer nor Jake got when I said it today because they have not seen the original ‘Ghostbusters,’” Janocko told Yahoo Sports before practice. “We had to watch the clip of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man showing up to try and smash New York City.”

Janocko’s idea was sound: Turn the day’s attitude into a picture in his quarterbacks’ minds just as they routinely turn playbook concepts into digestible visualization.

But its failure to initially resonate was fitting for the 25- and 23-year-old prospects the Saints are betting on at quarterback. Because neither Haener nor Rattler represent the past. For New Orleans, they do not even primarily represent the present.

Instead, as each fights for second on the depth chart behind Carr, Saints coaches and executives ask themselves: Can either player be their franchise’s future?

Just three teams selected a quarterback in each of the last two NFL drafts. The Minnesota Vikings drafted Jaren Hall in the 2023 fifth round before J.J. McCarthy this year in the first, creating a clear pecking order. The Green Bay Packers selected Sean Clifford in the fifth last year and Michael Pratt in the seventh this past spring, a chance to develop amid starter Jordan Love’s transition to face of the franchise.

Then there’s New Orleans, who now fronts two developmental prospects behind a clearly established but aging quarterback entering…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/after-drafting-spencer-rattler-and-jake-haener-a-year-apart-who-holds-upper-hand-in-saints-qb-battle-of-the-future-002853058.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-08-10 00:28:53

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