Derek Carr injury: What to know about Saints Cubs Spencer Rattler, Zack Heiner
Editor's note: New Orleans coach Dennis Allen named QB Spencer Rattler the starter against the Buccaneers on Wednesday.
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints held a competition all summer to find out what they had in both of their backup quarterbacks. The Saints played soft on who actually won the competition, listing Derek Carr as a backup on the depth chart as Spencer Rattler or Zach Henner.
After Carr went down on “Monday Night Football” with an oblique injury, now they will likely have to show their true hand against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. A source told ESPN an MRI confirmed Carr's injury but did not give a timeline for how long he will be sidelined. New Orleans will likely start Rattler, a fifth-round pick out of South Carolina, or Hanner, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2023 draft out of Fresno State.
What will the Saints get if Rattler or Hener ends up being the starters? According to Saints quarterbacks coach Andrew Zanocco, either Henner is an outwardly confident quarterback or Rattler is a quietly assured one.
“I would say every guy has a little different way of showing it. Spencer is a little more of a sniper. He's a special ops guy, he's not going to tell you,” Zanocco said.
The Saints have said they want to keep the backup quarterback competition out of camp. So far, Henner has come through for Carr, taking snaps for him in the blowout win and attempting seven passes in the fourth quarter of Monday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Rattler has been inactive as an emergency third quarterback.
Saints coach Dennis Allen said in September that the backups won't get many first-team reps in practice, despite what their designated depth chart says.
“Whoever the backup quarterback is, and I don't care if it's a young player or a veteran player, all the years I've been in the league, that player gets very little, if any first-team practice. , unless there's a dire situation like last year. Not where Derek was a little bit limited for a few days and I don't expect it to be a whole lot different,” Allen said.
That means Janocko will have his work cut out for him trying to get the backups ready to start in a short week. The Saints have two games in nine days, hosting the Buccaneers on Sunday and then the Denver Broncos in Week 7 on “Thursday Night Football.”
The timing is bad for both the backup's preparation and Carr's ability to return from an injury that could take weeks to heal.
“The room you're in, you be ready to go,” Zanocco said earlier in the season. “The reality is, if you are [the backup] or you [the third-string quarterback]You are one snap away from the game or two snaps away from the game. … Clint [Kubiak] Sets a value that it doesn't matter what your depth chart is [says]Where you are, you are preparing like starters. So for me it's just been positive and to continue to compete in everything we do every day, whoever they call No. 2, whoever they call No. 3, it's not a problem for me because both guys have to be ready to go.”
Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson recently missed a game with an oblique injury. Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees missed two weeks in 2014 with an oblique strain.
“It takes something to not be there with my guys, no matter what the situation is,” said an unsettled Carr after Monday's loss to the Chiefs. “I couldn't do what needed to be done in the simplest form.”
If Carr misses time, it will be his first missed game due to injury since his 2017 season with the Oakland Raiders.
Rattler or Hener will be the 10th starting quarterback for the Saints after Brees missed time due to injuries in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Taysom Hill and Teddy Bridgewater started the game in his place.
There have been five more unique starters since Brees retired after the 2020 season: Jameis Winston, Trevor Siemian, Ian Book, Andy Dalton and Carr (Hill also started five games in 2021 after Winston's injury).
Henner and Rattler don't have much experience as NFL quarterbacks, so they'll have to rely on their college experience if they see playing time.
Hanner was a three-season starter for Fresno State from 2020 to 2022. The Bulldogs went 10-4 in 2022. Henner completed 72% of his passes for 2,896 yards and 20 touchdowns that season after missing four games with a sprained and sprained ankle.
He was suspended the first six games of the 2023 season for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing-drug policy and was a healthy scratch after returning behind veteran backup Winston. Winston went to the injured Carr three times and also took snaps during a game that was considered a blowout.
Rattler, who starred in the Netflix documentary, “QB 1: Beyond the Lights,” spent the first three seasons of his college career at Oklahoma in high school and is considered a Heisman contender for the 2021 season.
He led the conference in completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns and quarterback rating in the 2020 season, but transferred to South Carolina in 2022 after losing his starting job to Caleb Williams.
Rattler completed 68.9% of his passes in his final season at South Carolina, passing for 3,186 yards and 19 touchdowns before going on to play in the Senior Bowl, where he was named the Senior Bowl MVP.
“I think just from an arm talent standpoint and the ability to make all the throws … he has enough mobility in the pocket,” Allen said after the Rattlers were drafted. “I think this is a guy that's gone through a lot of adversity, faced a lot of criticism and he's come out the other side and I think that's a good quality to have as a quarterback.”
The Saints quarterback situation is considered one of the most atypical in the league this year due to the age and inexperience of both backups. Now one of them will have a chance to prove why the Saints drafted them.
“Even if Derek wants to continue playing for a long time, they have to try to draft someone who can … try to set things up for the future,” Hanner said in the offseason after being drafted by the Rattlers. “And if me and Spencer, who's good, whoever, can set this organization up for future success, then I'm all for it. That's how I see it. I want to try to be a starter in this league. If that's the case, compete with people. And to put myself at number 2 this year, who knows, that's great.”