Spencer
Rattler.
Spencer
Rattler.
South Carolina· 6'0"· 211 lb· 4.95s 40
"Once the top recruit in America, he arrived in the NFL as a fifth-round arm: the velocity and the toughness were always real, the decisions never quite caught up."Pre-draft read
Rattler was a full-field pocket passer who ran South Carolina's spread from the gun and threw with rare natural velocity. The release was compact, the arm played from any platform, and he layered the intermediate throws — dig, deep over, back-shoulder comeback — with touch most Day 3 quarterbacks never show. With a clean pocket he was a genuine rhythm passer with full-field vision.
Mobility was a bonus rather than a weapon; he escaped to extend rather than to run. The signature was his fearlessness under duress, standing in and delivering with a defender arriving, and the flip side was the same: heavy pressure dragged him into off-platform hero throws and drive-killing turnovers. Talent was never the question with the ball in his hand.
Timing-and-rhythm play-action offense with a defined progression and a heavy dose of intermediate in-breakers, where his release speed and anticipation do the work instead of his legs.
Year 1: QB2 who can start a stretch of games without the offense being rewritten. Ceiling: bridge starter in a structured system that protects him and asks him to distribute on time.
A slow-developing, deep-shot vertical offense behind a bad offensive line — sustained pressure is what turns his aggression into interceptions.
Value spikes with a strong running game and a play-caller who scripts easy completions early.
Spencer Rattler 2023 Full Season Highlights | South Carolina QB | 2024 NFL Draft Prospect
Full-season cutup of his final year in Columbia, the tape the board graded.
South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler had a career night vs #5 Tennessee w/ 438 yds and 6 TDs
The signature 2022 upset: 438 yards and six touchdowns against a top-five defense.
Spencer Rattler 2022 highlights
First year at South Carolina, showing both the arm talent and the turnover risk.
Once the No. 1 recruit in the country and a Heisman contender by midseason 2020, Rattler is the rare prospect whose evaluation had to survive five years of public narrative. He threw for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman at Oklahoma, got benched for Caleb Williams in 2021, and transferred to South Carolina to rebuild his tape from scratch.
The rebuild worked. He started every game across two years in Columbia and finished 2023 with 3,186 yards, 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions on 68.9 percent passing behind an offensive line that leaked constantly. The signature night came against No. 5 Tennessee in 2022: 438 yards and six touchdowns in an upset that answered the question of whether the arm still translated against elite competition.
The board split on the maturity story and settled on the arm. Evaluators loved the velocity, the anticipation and the toughness, and flagged average size at 6-0, 211, the 12-interception 2022 season and a habit of trying to win reps he should have thrown away. He was the seventh quarterback off the board, and the Saints got a starter-caliber arm on a fifth-round contract at 150.
- 01
Arm talent
Effortless velocity from any platform, with the zip to fit dig and out-breaking throws into windows most Day 3 quarterbacks cannot access.
- 02
Anticipation
Throws receivers open on timing routes, releasing before the break on comebacks and deep overs against zone.
- 03
Pocket toughness
Stands in and delivers with pressure arriving, absorbing hits to complete throws down the middle of the field.
- 04
Experience
Forty-eight college games and five seasons in two systems, including 25 straight starts in the SEC against top-tier defenses.
- 05
Big-game production
438 yards and six touchdowns against No. 5 Tennessee in 2022, proof the arm played against elite competition.
- 01
Turnover risk
Thirty-two career interceptions, including a 12-pick 2022, mostly on throws he attempted rather than throws that were taken from him.
- 02
Frame
At 6-0, 211 he plays below the ideal quarterback height and has to work throwing lanes around interior pressure.
- 03
Decision-making under duress
Drifts into off-schedule hero throws when the first read is covered instead of taking the checkdown.
- 04
Deep-ball placement
Inconsistent touch on the vertical shot, alternating between overthrows and layups the receiver has to wait on.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.95sp50
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- 108inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.21sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.37sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Oklahoma | 3 | 7 | 11 | 81 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | Oklahoma | 11 | 214 | 317 | 3031 | 28 | 7 |
| 2021 | Oklahoma | 9 | 140 | 187 | 1483 | 11 | 5 |
| 2022 | South Carolina | 13 | 262 | 394 | 3011 | 18 | 12 |
| 2023 | South Carolina | 12 | 275 | 399 | 3186 | 19 | 8 |
| Career | — | 48 | 898 | 1308 | 10792 | 77 | 32 |
Per CFBD season data (Oklahoma 2019-2021, South Carolina 2022-2023); season totals sum exactly to the career line shown. Sack yardage is charged against rushing in NCAA accounting, which is why the rushing yards look flat. Fumble data not verified by season, left out rather than zero-filled.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Competent, tough spot starter who wins the QB2 job everywhere and keeps an offense functional.
Ceiling as an undersized, confident thrower who lands in the right system and becomes a legitimate starter.
Journeyman backup who accumulates starts through attrition without ever holding a job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New Orleans planned to develop him behind Derek Carr and got none of that runway. A Carr injury pushed him into the lineup in Week 6 of 2024, and he started six games as a rookie on a broken offense, going 0-6 with 1,317 yards, 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions on 57 percent passing while the team averaged 11.2 points in his starts. He then beat out second-round pick Tyler Shough in Kellen Moore's 2025 camp and opened the year as the starter, a real jump: 67.7 percent, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions across eight starts, with the offense still stuck near 15 points a game and a 1-7 record before Shough took over. He remained on the roster into 2026 as an experienced arm in a young quarterback room.
In hindsight the fifth round was fair value on the risk and light on the reward. Rattler proved the arm and the toughness translate and that he can run an NFL offense competently; he has not proved he can lift one. That is the exact profile the board described — a quality backup with starter-level flashes — and getting two years of real snaps out of pick 150 is a win for New Orleans regardless of the record.
Data note: Per CFBD season data (Oklahoma 2019-2021, South Carolina 2022-2023); season totals sum exactly to the career line shown. Sack yardage is charged against rushing in NCAA accounting, which is why the rushing yards look flat. Fumble data not verified by season, left out rather than zero-filled.