Tyler Shough vs. Spencer Rattler: Which Saints QB is in prime position to replace Derek Carr as starter for 2025 season?

The Saints have a sudden quarterback decision to make after Derek Carr's shock retirement, leaving Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler as the top two candidates to replace him as the starter. New Orleans might still bring in another replacement, but those are the options currently available to them.

One reason the Saints might choose to work with what they have is that Derek Carr's retirement creates salary cap space for a team that desperately needs it. Getting a new quarterback will mean moving that situation in the wrong direction again. Additionally, holding on to draft picks instead of trading for a quarterback allows them to use those selections to draft a signal-caller in the future in case neither Tyler Shough nor Spencer Rattler work out.

Let us look at which of these players has a higher chance of taking over the starting spot in New Orleans.

Tyler Shough v Spencer Rattler: the race to succeed Derek Carr as Saints' starting QB

Spencer Rattler was taken in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He was not supposed to compete with Derek Carr for the starting spot, unless something unraveled. As it turned out, the starter's injury opened up a chance for him. He replaced him and started six games last year.

However, they were not happy outings for him. New Orleans lost every single one of those matches. In mitigation, though, they were already on a slide even with their starter still available. Spencer Rattler had a 57 percent completion rate and averaged 188.1 yards per game. He threw only four touchdowns and five interceptions in that period.

That hardly screams immediate starting capability. However, there are a couple of things going in his favor over Tyler Shough. First, even a bad experience in the NFL is still better than no experience. The jump from college to professional football is huge. Secondly, even though he was drafted last year, he is younger than the rookie, who is 25 years old already. That means he potentially has more development potential than a signal-caller who stayed so long in college.

However, it would be foolish to count out Tyler Shough prematurely. He was selected in the second round, which is much higher than his counterpart was. It shows that the Saints took him with a genuine succession plan in mind rather than just because he was available in the later rounds.

When he was picked, players like Shedeur Sanders and Will Howard were still available. More importantly, new head coach Kellen Moore had an input in his selection, which he did not have in the case of Spencer Rattler.

Finally, New Orleans has seen how their former head coach has turned around the Denver Broncos with Bo Nix. The quarterback there was also supposed to be older than usual standards, but all that did was make him more mature than some of the other rookies on the field, not named Jayden Daniels.

Tyler Shough was very good in his final year in Louisville, throwing for more than 3,000 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just six interceptions. His completion rate was also over 60 percent. While we have no known way of how it will translate in the NFL, he certainly deserves a look.

For these reasons, Tyler Shough looks to be the favorite over Spencer Rattler going into training camp. But what will matter most is how they both perform during this period before the season begins. It will allow Kellen Moore to assess them both and decide who should be the starter. And if both fail, then he might just choose to bring in another quarterback altogether.