New Orleans Saints had 'zero problem' with Spencer Rattler portrayal in Netflix documentary

The New Orleans Saints weren’t worried about Spencer Rattler’s character at all based on his portrayal in a Netflix documentary.

Rattler was on QB1: Beyond the Lights while he was in high school. Maturity and character concerns were paramount, based on that, going into the draft. But, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer vehemently defended him and the Saints weren’t concerned the least.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler provided more on the team’s decision to draft Rattler in the fifth round.

“The slide to the fifth round was unexpected,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “There was some stuff about the character from his high school days in a documentary that wasn’t flattering. I talked to the Saints about that somebody there, they said they had zero problems with that. He had clearly matured from all that it really didn’t even come up all that much in their team interviews of Rattler.

“So at that point in the fifth round, they just thought they were getting really good value and this could be their number two quarterback behind Derek Carr.”

Beamer, Rattler’s head coach at South Carolina and an offensive assistant for him at Oklahoma, spoke highly of his former player again in an interview on the NOF Network after the draft. For as good of a prospect as he sees him as, he also thinks the franchise got just as great of a person to join their organization.

“I think they’re getting a guy with a huge upside,” said Beamer. “Fantastic person, somebody that obviously, you know, I’ve been around since 2019 when we were together at Oklahoma.”

“I think he has just been through so much adversity,” Beamer said. “His story? He has weathered some storms from what happened at Oklahoma, some of the adversity he felt he dealt with here at South Carolina with injuries and whatnot.”

Rattler played for five seasons for the Sooners in Norman and the Gamecocks in Columbia. He threw for over 10,800 yards, 77 touchdowns, and 32 interceptions on a 68.5% completion rate.

However, Rattler went from being the former No. 1 QB recruit in the country to a college player that didn’t fully meet expectations of him. The Sooners benched him for Caleb Williams in 2021 during a season where he was supposed to be in the running for The Heisman Trophy.

With that, New Orleans will be getting a high-quality player and person according to Beamer.

“He’s extremely talented, he’s extremely hard-working. He’s humble,” Beamer said .“I know he’s eager to get to work out there.”