Spencer Rattler

QB·

New Orleans Saints·#2·6'0"·211 lb·2nd year·South Carolina

Tier 1Round 5, pick 150 in 2024

Updated November 6, 2026

77.3

Model Score

Resting on limited playing time

Trade value ·a 7th

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Spencer Rattler is a QB for the New Orleans Saints on a deal paying $1.1M a year through 2027, a $1.2M cap hit in 2026 (updated November 6, 2026).

STM Take

A developing backup quarterback with a live arm and a capped ceiling.

The case for

Marginal year-over-year rank improvement (#46 to #35) suggests development is happening even if it is incremental. The 21.68 PPR Wk 2 opener and four consecutive 11+ PPR games early in 2025 showed flashes of competent production.
Live arm and pre-snap recognition are stronger than the 5th-round draft slot suggested. The Oklahoma-to-South Carolina arc and his fight back from a benching shows resilience scouts undervalued in 2024.

The worry

Tier 8 in both NFL seasons keeps the ceiling capped. He has not moved the efficiency metrics (YPA, CPOE) in a meaningful way across 14 career starts.
The 0 PPR Wk 15 2025 plus the team's clear investment in Shough confirms the organizational view: he is a backup-tier piece, not part of the long-term plan.

What to watch: Whether he gets meaningful 2026 reps behind Shough or becomes pure third-string insurance and is moved by the trade deadline.

Full take and bio

The jump from #46 in 2024 to #35 in 2025 is real improvement but still inside tier 8, meaning the model sees a developmental QB without a clear starter ceiling. New Orleans drafting Shough in the 2nd round and giving him the second-half reps is the cleanest signal about how the organization views Rattler's trajectory: viable backup, not a starting answer.

Rattler came out of South Carolina as New Orleans's 5th-round pick (150th overall) in 2024, after a college career that began as a five-star Oklahoma starter and ended as a transfer to Columbia. He lost his Oklahoma starting job to Caleb Williams in 2021, which became the defining moment of his prospect arc. He started seven games as a rookie in 2024 when Derek Carr was injured, then split 2025 reps with Carr and Tyler Shough before Shough took over the long-term starter role at midseason.

Comps

The players whose size, testing and production looked most like his at the same point in their careers. The percent is how close.

Teddy Bridgewater ’1584%David Carr ’0382%

Tua Tagovailoa ’2068%

Drew Brees ’0260%

Plays like: Charlie Batch, Trevor Siemian, Anthony Wright. Built like: Bailey Zappe, Sam Hartman, Rex Grossman. Coming out: Brandon Allen, Matthew Stafford, Drew Brees.

Of his 20 closest coming out: 3 stars, 3 starters, 6 backups, 8 didn't stick.