Spencer Rattler got the start, but Zach Wilson stole the show in the Saints’ preseason opener.
New Orleans opened its exhibition slate Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars with Rattler under center, while Tyler Shough watched from the Caesars Superdome sidelines alongside the rest of the starting offense and defense. Rattler left the game with the Saints up 10-6, but the offense didn’t really come alive until Wilson entered late in the first half.
That wasn’t a small development for a quarterback room with clear pecking order questions. The Saints know Rattler well at this point. The third-year quarterback has made 14 starts since New Orleans took him in the fifth round of the 2024 draft, and he entered camp as the No. 2 option behind Shough.
Wilson arrived as the unknown. The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft still has the kind of arm talent that turns heads, but his pro career has yet to click. At 27, he’s already on his fourth team, and Saturday gave the Saints a glimpse of why he remains intriguing.
Wilson completed 11 of 16 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, finishing with a 118 passer rating. Rattler, meanwhile, hit more than 70% of his throws but only produced 42 yards on his eight completions and also gave the ball away.
The Saints got a burst of momentum right away. Ty Chandler ripped the opening kickoff back 86 yards, and Audric Estime cashed it in with a 9-yard touchdown run on the first offensive snap. After that, the rhythm vanished for a while.
Rattler’s first three dropbacks told the story. He threw one overthrow and took two sacks, both drive-killers.
On the second sack, he lost control of the ball inside the Saints’ 10-yard line, and Jacksonville recovered. The Jaguars still had to settle for a field goal after New Orleans’ defense tightened up.
Rattler had five possessions before giving way, and he did settle in some on his final march. He worked the short game effectively, completing seven of his first eight throws on that drive for 48 yards and moving the Saints to the Jaguars’ 25.
Then the drive stalled. A throw to the flat got swallowed up for a 6-yard loss, and New Orleans ended up settling for a long field goal.
By the end of the night, Rattler was 8 of 11, but the efficiency never matched the box score. His average of 3.8 yards per attempt reflected how hard the offense had to work for every inch. Three of his five possessions ended in either a three-and-out or a turnover.
Wilson’s first series wasn’t clean either. He opened with a pair of incompletions and a three-and-out. After that, though, he started stacking plays.
His best stretch began with 3:22 left in the first half, right after Jayden Price’s interception. On the first snap following the turnover, Wilson sold the play-action fake, Jacksonville bit hard, and he lofted a sideline ball to a wide-open Bub Means. The play was initially ruled a 28-yard touchdown, but video review showed Means stepped out of bounds before reaching the goal line.
Wilson didn’t need long to answer. On the next play, he found rookie tight end Oscar Delp for a touchdown and pushed New Orleans ahead 17-6.
He wasn’t done. With 1:02 left in the half and the Saints starting at their own 5, Wilson delivered a pair of big throws down the sideline - a 37-yard gain to Means and a 28-yard strike to rookie Barion Brown. His third-down pass to Means from the Jaguars’ 11 fell incomplete with four seconds remaining, but the Saints still got a field goal out of the drive and carried a 20-6 lead into halftime.
Wilson got one more series in the third quarter and nearly wrecked it with a 14-yard sack. He recovered well enough to complete passes of 8 and 14 yards and set up Charlie Smyth for a 52-yard field goal attempt, but Smyth missed wide right.
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