Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, it’s time to get into the potential that Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler has shown in his brief NFL career, how his teammates and coaches are responding, and what it all means for Rattler’s future — especially when the wins start coming.
I’ve always believed that the quarterback win is the dumbest
statistic in football, and it’s right up there in any sport. The alleged metric does nothing to drill down and truly reflect the quarterback’s performance, and while winning is obviously the end goal at all times, calling a quarterback a “winner” or a “loser” with no additional analysis is a good way to get me to mute you with a quickness.
One person who would probably agree with me in this regard is Spencer Rattler. The 150th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2024 draft out of South Carolina (by way of Oklahoma) has a record of 0-8 as an NFL starting quarterback after Sunday’s 26-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but if we’re talking about the development and improvement of a young quarterback, Rattler did a lot to impress a lot of people in that game.
Overall, Rattler completed 25 of 34 passes against San Francisco for 207 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 118.1 — which puts his 2025 numbers up to 52 completions in 80 attempts for 421 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 90.7.
Maybe I was early on the Rattler bandwagon, but it was my belief that he could end the Saints’ post-Drew Brees quarterback purgatory sooner than later with his explosive potential, as long as his coaches could rein in Rattler’s YOLO tendencies. Rattler has met Kellen Moore at least halfway as a more efficient and managed thrower of the football this season, and the results are starting to show up in a credible sense. The idea of this franchise selecting Tyler Shough in the second round of the 2025 draft might be one of those “Oh well, whatever, never mind” things if Rattler continues at this pace.
So far this season, Rattler’s success has been less about the unexpected play, and more about his ability to play within the structure of Moore’s offense. Per Next Gen Stats, Rattler completed 11 of 14 quick passes for 77 yards against the 49ers, throwing all three of his touchdowns in fewer than 2.5 seconds. He also completed 14 of 20 passes for 130 yards on passes over 2.5 seconds. so it’s not as if Moore and his staff have turned Rattler into Captain Checkdown — this is really about Rattler unlocking the entire playbook.
Which he very nearly did.
First, the good stuff. Rattler’s first touchdown of the day came with 1:20 left in the first half. The Saints had third-and-6 on the San Francisco 18-yard line, and the 49ers sent one of their staple pressure packages: Five rushers overall, three to the overload side, and linebacker Fred Warner as a standup three-tech disruptor to the other side. In a compressed pocket, Rattler made a very difficult far-hash throw to Johnson where only Johnson could catch it, and safety Marques Sigle had no shot.
Speaking of “no shot,” 49ers cornerback Renardo Green had no shot defending this deep pass to
Rashid Shaheed with 14:09 left in the first quarter. This was the Saints’ third play of the game, and Rattler was wasting no time getting the ball downfield. Green was on Shaheed all the way down the boundary — no mean feat given Shaheed’s speed — but there’s no way to defend the perfect throw, and that’s what Rattler gave Shaheed on the 39-yard completion.
Rattler’s fumble on fourth-and-1 with 1:03 left in the game socked it away for the 49ers, but if there’s one play everybody in the building would like back, it was Rattler’s incompletion to Chris Olave at the end of the drive that saw the amazing throw to Shaheed.
Here, the Saints had third-and-6 from the San Francisco 22-yard line, and Olave motioned into a seam route that had Green dead to rights. Olave turned Green out on the play, but Rattler missed his receiver as Olave worked inside… and Rattler threw the ball to where Olave was, as opposed to where Olave was going. Kicker Blake Grupe missed a 40-yard attempt on the next play, and a promising drive ended with no points.
“Obviously, we are going to look back at that, and I’ll watch the film and see exactly how it went down,” Moore said postgame. “Obviously, it’s a missed opportunity. It’s a critical missed opportunity for us. It’s a big-time moment for us on the opening drive. We are right there and just have to get it done.”
Rattler could tell his coach exactly how it went down.
“That’s such a timing route,” he said after the loss. “The ball has to be out before he even cuts, which it was, just a little bit to the left. I think I had a little bit of pressure. But we make those throws. You’ve got to make those throws. I can make that throw any day.”
Overall, though, it’s clear that Rattler has gained the confidence of his teammates, and that’s a crucial step for anybody trying to break into the NFL with any certainty. They know who he is, they know that there’s some work to be done, and they know what the potential can turn out to be.
“It is unreal,” veteran linebacker Demario Davis said of Rattler’s development from 2024 to 2025. “There is something unique and dynamic about him. He can make all the throws. He is very shifty with his feet, and being able to keep plays alive. I think he has a unique swagger and confidence about him. I think he can just continue to play with that and let who he is come out. The more he puts himself on display, the city as a whole will be pleased with him.
“I know quarterback is the most challenging position to play in this league, and sometimes people can put pressure on you to look and act a certain way — you just have to be you at the end of the day. And our head coach just says, ‘Let it go,’ and I think a couple times on a couple drives you can see him out there just letting it go. And it’s electrifying.
“We need that. We need him to continue to play at a high level, and we’ll be all right.”
Next stop? At least one win with Spencer Rattler taking the snaps. He’s earned that, at least.
