Following Derek Carr's retirement this past weekend, the New Orleans Saints naturally became a potential Aaron Rodgers landing spot this offseason.
CBS Sports’ Jared Dubin doesn’t think bringing Rodgers to the Big Easy is a good idea, though – not when Carson Wentz is a viable option that’d cost much less and ruffle far fewer feathers.
“This is the big domino waiting to fall all offseason. Rodgers has been taking his sweet time making a decision, first on whether or not to even play in 2025, and then on which team to play for if he does. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been seen as the front-runners for his services, and it has seemed almost like a foregone conclusion that he'd go to Pittsburgh if he goes anywhere. Could New Orleans now get in the mix? It would almost certainly be a one-year bridge solution, but given the Saints' situation, it's probably not the best idea. They're not really in position to contend given the overall state of their roster, so all they'd be doing is giving themselves a higher floor for the 2025 season and making it more difficult to find a long-term answer in 2026. If the Saints are looking for a veteran free agent signing who will be more low-maintenance and perhaps provide even more volatility in terms of floor outcomes, Wentz is still available as well,” Dubin wrote.
Signing Rodgers would take the power away from Kellen Moore from the jump as the Saints’ headman. If Rodgers’ run in NOLA were to resemble his New York Jets career, he’d bring his people in and cause issues with superiors he didn’t see eye to eye with.
The alternative doesn’t look great on paper. Viral tweets have questioned whether or not New Orleans has the worst quarterback room ever with Tyler Shough, Jake Haener, and Spencer Rattler.
Moore has announced that all three will get a shot in training camp to earn the job, which doesn’t definitively write off a free agent signing but doesn’t scream insecurity about the team’s current options.
“All three quarterbacks, we’re going to let all three of these guys roll,” Moore said, per On3. “They’ve all earned these opportunities. We’ll let Jake, Spencer and Tyler – all three – go through this process. We’ll play patience, let these guys compete, let them get into training camp.”
Rolling with Shough, as Dubin pointed out, is the likeliest move. Moore was involved with his acquisition, unlike the others.
A Wentz signing is still possible if that’s the case.
Signing Rodgers undermines all of that and brings potentially needless drama.