Who is Spencer Rattler, the Saints QB filling in for Derek Carr?

The New Orleans Saints will face their NFC South rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday without their leading man, quarterback Derek Carr. During their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last week, Carr suffered an oblique injury that is set to keep him out for multiple weeks. He’s considered “week to week”, so for now, the Saints are going with their rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler.

All about Spencer Rattler

The Saints drafted Rattler out of South Carolina as their first selection in the fifth round of this year’s draft. Rattler actually started college at Oklahoma, where he played for three seasons before switching to South Carolina, where he played for two years. During his five years playing ball, he completed 900-of-1,313 passes for 10,807 yards and 77 touchdowns to just 32 interceptions. Despite playing just two seasons as a Gamecock, Rattler finished his career first in school history in completion percentage (67.5), fifth in completions (523) and passing yards (6,212) and ninth in passing touchdowns (37).

When the Saints lost Carr to the injury, they had the choice of starting Rattler against the Bucs, or second-year QB Jake Haener, who filled in for Carr during their blowout wins and in the loss to the Chiefs. They’ve chosen to go with Rattler. Coach Dennis Allen explained that they thought he would be a good fit for this particular opponent and that his ability to scramble and escape the pocket factored into the decision.

“There were a lot of factors that go into it,” Allen said. “Certainly we felt like he’s got some mobility.”

“We just internally talked a lot about it and felt like in this particular game, that he was going to give us the best chance to win,” he said. “Both him and Jake both have been practicing extremely hard, preparing to be the starter. It was kind of the conversation that we had at the beginning of the year that Jake would be the No. 2 to start. ... It was really basically going to be kind of a week-to-week deal and we just felt like this was, for this game, going to give us the best option.”

Through his three preseason appearances, Rattler completed 20-of-38 passes for 202 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions while adding seven carries for 26 yards and one fumble.

The Saints face the Buccaneers this Sunday, October 13 and have a quick turnaround after that, facing the Denver Broncos on October 17 for Thursday Night Football.