New Orleans Saints Retain Quarterback Rattler Amid Trade Interest

The New Orleans Saints are not considering any major changes at the quarterback position as they reduce their roster to 53 players ahead of Sunday’s deadline.

Second-year quarterback Tyler Shough will begin the season as the starting quarterback for the Saints, with Spencer Rattler and Zach Wilson as backups. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the team intends to keep Rattler on the initial 53-man roster. Despite trade interest in Rattler, the Saints plan to retain him as the primary backup to Shough.

“The Saints received trade interest in QB Spencer Rattler but plan to keep him, per sources,” Fowler posted on the social media platform X. “Rattler will serve as quality depth behind Tyler Shough, barring a change.”

Rattler, 25, was drafted by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Over his first two seasons, he appeared in 16 games and started 14, amassing 2,903 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.

Rattler is well-regarded by his teammates. Saints wide receiver Chris Olave expressed his support in January, highlighting Rattler’s potential as a starting quarterback in the NFL. “Spencer’s a great quarterback — I don’t believe he’s a backup quarterback in this league,” Olave commented via nola.com. “In this world nowadays, everybody wants to point the finger if something is going wrong.”

Olave added, “I feel like Spencer’s done a great job when he was back there starting at quarterback. He deserves another opportunity to be able to be a starting quarterback in this league.”

Unless the team reconsiders, it seems unlikely that Rattler will have the chance to start for another team this year. He was initially named the starter for the Saints before the 2025 season but was replaced by Shough by late October. Last season, Shough went 5-4 as a starter, completing 67.6 percent of his passes for 2,384 yards, with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions.

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