Most of the attention in the Saints’ quarterback competition is focused on Spencer Rattler and second-round pick Tyler Shough, but the team has insisted Jake Haener is also involved and Friday’s practice showed that’s more than just idle chatter from head coach Kellen Moore.
Haener worked with the first team for the first time in the team’s third practice of training camp, which means all three quarterbacks have now had a chance to work with starters. Haener made it clear that he thinks he’s right there with his teammates when it comes to having a shot at being on the field in Week One.
“If I’ve learned one thing about this league, this league does not care about your feelings,” Haener said, via Matthew Paras of the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It doesn’t care about who you are, what you do. And it’s all about what you’ve done for me lately. And I believe this organization — respect them, they drafted me — if they didn’t truly believe I could be a guy that they think couldn’t win the starting job, they wouldn’t include me in it. Simple as that. They wouldn’t make me feel good about myself. I totally see it as a three-man race. I think I’ve earned that right.”
Future workloads will provide an idea of how much of a chance Haener has to actually win the job, but the Saints have little to lose by giving everyone a chance to put their best foot forward in the wake of Derek Carr’s retirement.
