Saints keep 3 quarterbacks, Moore says each earned it
Kellen Moore says Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler and Zach Wilson all earned their spot on the 53, insurance the Saints were glad to carry with Alvin Kamara out and the receiver room thinned by injury.
Moore explains why the Saints carried 3 quarterbacks
New Orleans opened the season with an unusual luxury at the position that decides everything: three quarterbacks on the 53, not two. Tyler Shough is the entrenched starter, Spencer Rattler is the primary backup, and Zach Wilson is the veteran third who beat back a summer's worth of competition to make the cut. "I'd say they earned it. Those three earned it," Kellen Moore told WWL Radio this week. "Not every team carries three on the active roster and all three of those guys earned the opportunity to be on the 53. We've got three really good QBs."
Wilson made his case in relief in the preseason finale, completing 9 of 12 passes for 93 yards against Dallas, and it is exactly the kind of showing that turns a camp battle into a coach's public vote of confidence. It reads like insurance New Orleans did not have to think twice about buying: Alvin Kamara remained sidelined at Thursday's practice with the knee injury that has him questionable, Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football reports, and Kendre Miller left Tuesday's practice early with what Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football describes as only a minor issue. Add a receiver room already down Jordyn Tyson and Mason Tipton, and keeping a proven arm behind Shough cost a roster spot the Saints decided they could spare.
Last time out: Saints close the preseason 1-2 with a finale win over Dallas
New Orleans beat Dallas 27-24 on August 29 to finish the preseason 1-2, a needed bounce-back after the previous week's scoreless 34-0 shutout at the Rams. Barion Brown scored on a touchdown run, rushed twice for 19 yards overall and added a four-yard punt return; Bryce Lance caught two of four targets for 28 yards. Audric Estime ran for 46 yards and caught all three of his targets for 22 yards, while Zach Wilson went 9 of 12 for 93 yards in relief.
Cowboys27-24
Rams0-34
Jaguars20-24It came down to a kick from a player who was not on the roster a week earlier. Daniel Carlson signed with New Orleans on August 25 after a kicking competition between Tanner Brown and Charlie Smyth failed to settle anything, then drilled a 54-yard field goal with 1:55 left for the eventual final margin. "Proud of the guys," Spencer Rattler told reporters postgame — a fitting cap on a preseason that ends 1-2 on the scoreboard but with more answers than questions about who is playing behind Shough this fall.
Tillman arrives as the direct answer to Tyson's IR stint
The receiver room first-round pick Jordyn Tyson left behind when he landed on injured reserve last Sunday got its clearest reinforcement Tuesday: New Orleans signed Cedric Tillman, a 2023 third-round pick out of Tennessee who caught 71 passes for 833 yards and 5 touchdowns across three seasons in Cleveland before the Browns waived him August 27. Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer flagged the wrinkle in signing him: the Browns are the Saints' Week 9 opponent at the Caesars Superdome on November 8, so Tillman's old team comes to him before the season is nine games old.
It is the practice-squad version of triage for a position group that has been bleeding bodies since final cuts — Mason Tipton opening the year on PUP with a leg injury and now Tyson himself out with the hamstring issue Kellen Moore called impossible to time without a doctor's evaluation. Tight end Stone Smartt joined Tillman on the practice squad the same day, further depth behind a group also missing Moliki Matavao, who went to IR with a knee injury last week.
Saints open on the road against a Lions offense that ranked top-5 in the league
New Orleans starts the regular season Sunday afternoon in Detroit, and the opponent is not a rebuilding team feeling its way into the fall. The Lions finished last season averaging 373.2 yards per game, and with David Montgomery no longer in the backfield, Jahmyr Gibbs is projected for an even bigger workload behind Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta, per FanDuel Research. Detroit enters the opener at 2-1 in its own preseason, fresh off a 25-16 win at the Colts.
The one break New Orleans might catch is on the other side of the ball: Detroit's safety duo of Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch is still working back from injury and may not be full go for the opener, according to Yahoo Sports. That puts more on a Saints defensive front of Carl Granderson, Chase Young and Cam Jordan — who came back for one more season — to hurry Goff before Detroit's skill talent turns a short field into points.
The number reflects respect for that offense: Detroit opened as 6.5-point favorites at Ford Field, and the total was set at 48.5 — a high-scoring number for a game where Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta will test a Saints defense trying to find its pass rush in Week 1. Sunday afternoon in Detroit is the Saints' first real evidence of where this roster stands, after three weeks that gave fans a punt-return touchdown, a game-winning leg they signed off the street, and a three-quarterback bet Moore says already paid off.