The New Orleans Saints have a lot of “new” this season. They got a new Head Coach with Kellen Moore, they’re going to have a new starting quarterback with Derek Carr’s retirement, and they’ve added new offensive weapons.

Moore joins from the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, where he was the Offensive Coordinator. Derek Carr made his retirement announcement in May, to the shock of many. While the Saints front office have been adding players like Wide Receivers Brandin Cooks (former Saint), Dante Pettis, and locked in Tight End Juwan Johnson for 3-years.

But all of your offseason transactions might not mean anything, if you don’t have a quarterback. Which is something the Saints are going to have to figure out.

Who Is In The New Orleans Saints Quarterback Battle?

The Saints did make a move in the NFL Draft to get a signal caller, but it wasn’t the name many thought they’d take. In the second round, the Saints took Louisville QB Tyler Shough. He will now be in competition with second-year QB Spencer Rattler.

Louisville v Boston College

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Both QBs are young, with the rookie Shough being 25-years-old, and the veteran Rattler being 24-years-old.

Will The Saints Quarterback Competition Be Short?

While it might make sense for the Saints to go with Rattler to start the season, since he has NFL starts under his belt, and some chemistry with other players, it might not be that easy. Shough was a second round pick, but he was their highest QB drafted by the Saints since they took Archie Manning #2 overall in 1971.

But this week, NOF Network reporter Nick Underhill is reporting that Kellen Moore believes there are benefits to making a QB decision early.

He did add that they won’t force it, but that does sound like it’s something they want to have solved before the end of the preseason.

Why Do The Saints Want To Make A QB Decision Quickly?

The Saints might be trying to make a decision early to avoid the mistakes the team made last year. While Carr was locked in to be the QB1, the battle for QB2 may have been an issue in the long run.

New Orleans Saints v Green Bay Packers

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

The battle for the backup QB role was between Rattler and Jake Haener. But former Saints Head Coach Dennis Allen didn’t make a decision and commit to a QB2 in enough time to get them properly prepared in case Carr went down.

Well, Carr got injured, and the Saints didn’t have a backup that was ready for the fire. Which caused the team to struggle for big chunks of the year.

But this year, Moore seems to be aware of that potential problem, and seems to be ready to avoid it.

Every Saints First Round NFL Draft Trade Since 2010

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