The New Orleans Saints fell 6-2 in a depressing loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. I’m old enough to remember Klint Kubiak being touted as the NFL’s next great offensive genius after Week 2. Now the Saints’ offense is an area under scrutiny as their season spirals down the drain.

We can’t blame everything on Kubiak. The Saints have been playing without Derek Carr since Week 6, which inevitably brings the offense to its knees. In Carr’s place, rookie Spencer Rattler was called upon to lead the Saints’ passing attack. As a fifth-round pick in April’s NFL Draft, there was a lot of optimism surrounding Rattler, but he wasn’t expected to take the reins any time soon.

Rattler’s third start went wrong. After completing 12 of 24 passes for 155 yards, Rattler was benched in favor of Jake Haener in the third quarter. Surprisingly, this didn’t help much. The Saints’ offensive problems run much deeper than the QB position, but relying on so much youth and inexperience magnifies New Orleans’ deficiencies in that regard.

The hope is that Carr returns sooner rather than later, but for now it looks like Haener has officially overtaken Rattler on the Saints’ QB depth chart. It’s too early to panic — hold on to your Rattler shares if you bought any in South Carolina — but the Saints might be tempted to make a tough decision before the Nov. 5 trade deadline.

Most teams don’t have three quarterbacks on the roster. Once Carr is back, he’ll immediately assume his QB1 duties regardless of whether the Saints are in contention or not. Haener, a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft, was technically selected higher than Rattler. If the Saints back him as Carr’s replacement, Rattler’s path to relevance in New Orleans is largely unclear.

That brings us to the Las Vegas Raiders, who have their own QB controversies to sort out. Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell compete in a competition to see which quarterback can best embody the concept of mediocrity. This could result in a mutually beneficial trade.

The Saints are turning their fifth-round pick into a fourth-round pick. The Raiders are getting a talented young quarterback with room to develop him into a potential starting option. In the meantime, Rattler can step out of Derek Carr’s shadow and really thrive in an open QB competition.

Rattler was once a five-star recruit with NFL first-round aspirations, but a complicated college career left him as the QB7 in a challenging draft. The 24-year-old has real arm talent and the athleticism to make plays out of the pocket, but his decision-making has been a constant uphill battle in his first few NFL starts. That’s normal. Most newbies need time to adjust. However, the Saints can feel the NFC South slipping away.

The Raiders already know their fate in the AFC West. This is not a contender, not with The QB room. Rattler’s ceiling likely exceeds O’Connell’s and he is a more worthwhile project than Minshew, who is a known commodity. Chances are Rattler gets his chance to start in Las Vegas before the end of the season, if only so Las Vegas understands all of his options before the 2025 offseason.

New Orleans, meanwhile, bolsters its draft capital by placing Jake Haener behind Derek Carr, which is a perfectly reasonable lineup. The Saints won’t lose faith in Rattler after a bad half, but still, Haener’s presence means a decision will have to be made at some point.