Kellen Moore Downplays Saints Adding Veteran QB After Derek Carr Retirement

The New Orleans Saints have an unproven quarterback room with rookie Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener following the retirement of Derek Carr, but head coach Kellen Moore downplayed the idea of adding a veteran quarterback to the room.

"We'll give these guys a bunch of opportunities," he told reporters Monday (h/t Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk).

"Certainly there's times where if the opportunity presents itself, you feel like it's a really good fit, you'd love to do it. We feel like we have some good guys here that can certainly mentor each other at the same time going through this process. … We'll see how this whole thing progresses. The roster is a moving dynamic thing throughout the offseason process."

It makes sense that New Orleans would want to give the quarterbacks on the roster the opportunity to compete for playing time.

After all, there isn't exactly a long list of difference-makers available on the free agency market at this point. And trading for a veteran such as Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan would cost the rebuilding club valuable resources.

What's more, the Saints surely envisioned Shough becoming a franchise quarterback when they selected him with a second-round pick. Considering he will turn 26 years old in September, it wouldn't be the worst idea to start his playing time early in his career either to overcome some of the concerns about his age for a rookie.

Shough impressed in the 2024 campaign for Louisville by completing 62.7 percent of his passes for 3,195 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions and clearly showed the Saints enough to convince them to draft him early.

It wouldn't be surprising if he wins the job since Rattler is 0-6 as a starter with four touchdown passes to five interceptions, while Haener is 0-1 with one touchdown pass to one interception. He's not exactly competing against the likes of Patrick Mahomes for that QB1 role, and he will be given every opportunity to win the job this offseason.

That is especially true since Moore didn't sound like someone in a hurry to add a veteran even if he left the door open.