With Derek Carr having retired, the Saints will be starting a youngster at quarterback. Second-rounder Tyler Shough is the favorite, but let's not rule out another recent draft pick. If that happens, there will be some fantasy value.
Not in the quarterback himself, most likely, but in the defense he's squaring off with each week.
Checkdown Carr was a lesser matchup for opposing defenses, since he got the ball out of his hands quickly. To a fault; short completions that keep sacks down but don't do much to move the offense are of debatable value. What's remarkable is the wide disparity between what was happening when Carr was running the offense compared to the other quarterbacks on New Orleans' roster last year.
Carr took 8 sacks last year while attempting 279 passes, for a league-low sack percentage of just 2.8 percent. New Orleans' initial backup quarterback last year, Jake Haener, took 6 sacks while attempting just 39 passes, for a league-worst sack percentage of 13.3 percent. Working behind the same line.
Given that, no wonder New Orleans wound up giving rookie fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler more work. But Rattler was only marginally better in his larger body of work. He took 22 sacks on 228 pass attempts. His sack percentage of nearly 9 percent was 9th-worst among the 39 quarterbacks to attempt at least 200 passes last year.
| SACK PERCENTAGE, 2024 (200 ATTEMPTS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Sk% |
| Deshaun Watson | 137 | 216 | 1148 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 13.3 |
| Will Levis | 190 | 301 | 2091 | 13 | 12 | 41 | 12.0 |
| Caleb Williams | 351 | 562 | 3541 | 20 | 6 | 68 | 10.8 |
| Jalen Hurts | 248 | 361 | 2903 | 18 | 5 | 38 | 9.5 |
| Drake Maye | 225 | 338 | 2276 | 15 | 10 | 34 | 9.1 |
| Russell Wilson | 214 | 336 | 2482 | 16 | 5 | 33 | 8.9 |
| Jayden Daniels | 331 | 480 | 3568 | 25 | 9 | 47 | 8.9 |
| C.J. Stroud | 336 | 532 | 3727 | 20 | 12 | 52 | 8.9 |
| Spencer Rattler | 130 | 228 | 1317 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 8.8 |
| Gardner Minshew II | 203 | 306 | 2013 | 9 | 10 | 29 | 8.7 |
| Sam Darnold | 361 | 545 | 4319 | 35 | 12 | 48 | 8.1 |
| Geno Smith | 407 | 578 | 4320 | 21 | 15 | 50 | 8.0 |
| Daniel Jones | 216 | 341 | 2070 | 8 | 7 | 29 | 7.8 |
| Justin Herbert | 332 | 504 | 3870 | 23 | 3 | 41 | 7.5 |
| Jameis Winston | 181 | 296 | 2121 | 13 | 12 | 24 | 7.5 |
| Bryce Young | 234 | 384 | 2403 | 15 | 9 | 29 | 7.0 |
| Joe Burrow | 460 | 652 | 4918 | 43 | 9 | 48 | 6.9 |
| Dak Prescott | 185 | 286 | 1978 | 11 | 8 | 21 | 6.8 |
| Joe Flacco | 162 | 248 | 1761 | 12 | 7 | 18 | 6.8 |
| Baker Mayfield | 407 | 570 | 4500 | 41 | 16 | 40 | 6.6 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 368 | 584 | 3897 | 28 | 11 | 40 | 6.4 |
| Brock Purdy | 300 | 455 | 3864 | 20 | 12 | 31 | 6.4 |
| Trevor Lawrence | 172 | 284 | 2045 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 6.0 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 392 | 581 | 3928 | 26 | 11 | 36 | 5.8 |
| Kirk Cousins | 303 | 453 | 3508 | 18 | 16 | 28 | 5.8 |
| Jared Goff | 390 | 539 | 4629 | 37 | 12 | 31 | 5.4 |
| Kyler Murray | 372 | 541 | 3851 | 21 | 11 | 30 | 5.3 |
| Matthew Stafford | 340 | 517 | 3762 | 20 | 8 | 28 | 5.1 |
| Mac Jones | 171 | 262 | 1672 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 5.1 |
| Anthony Richardson | 126 | 264 | 1814 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 5.0 |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 291 | 399 | 2867 | 19 | 7 | 21 | 5.0 |
| Lamar Jackson | 316 | 474 | 4172 | 41 | 4 | 23 | 4.6 |
| Mason Rudolph | 146 | 228 | 1530 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 4.6 |
| Bo Nix | 376 | 567 | 3775 | 29 | 12 | 24 | 4.1 |
| Cooper Rush | 187 | 308 | 1844 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 4.1 |
| Aidan O'Connell | 154 | 243 | 1612 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 4.0 |
| Jordan Love | 268 | 425 | 3389 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 3.2 |
| Josh Allen | 307 | 483 | 3731 | 28 | 6 | 14 | 2.8 |
| Derek Carr | 189 | 279 | 2145 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 2.8 |
Maybe those numbers factored into the team's decision to draft Slough rather than Shedeur Sanders. Shough last year was downright Carr-like in terms of not taking sacks at Louisville. He was sacked just 14 times on 389 attempts, for a rate of 3.5 percent. Sanders, on the other hand, took 42 sacks on his 477 attempts, for a sack percentage of 8.8 -- same as Rattler as a rookie.
Rattler, it should be mentioned, did some good things. He moved the offense at times, and he ran around some, averaging 21 rushing yards. It's entirely possible he'll outplay Shough in August and be a September starter for New Orleans.
But between the sack potential and turnovers (he threw 5 interceptions and also fumbled 5 times), he probably won't stay there for long. And it's the opposing defenses rather than the Saints offense that will look best. With Rattler or Haener (and realistically Shough, too, at least early on). Not a given that New Orleans doesn't bring in some veteran rather start any of the three.
--Andy Richardson