Will Saints keep Ian Book on their 53-man roster in 2022?

New Orleans Saints backup quarterback Ian Book will likely stick around on the 2022 roster, but don’t expect him to get any starting snaps.

This offseason, the Saints brought on former Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton as an important depth piece, and in the event Winston gets re-injured, Dalton will step up as the team’s starter under center.

That places Book in the QB3 role yet again, though he figures more as a QB4 with Taysom Hill more qualified to take starting snaps at the position.

All that said, NOLA may keep Book for purely insurance purposes — if Winston, Dalton, and Hill aren’t available, Book can feature in another one-and-done scenario.

The Notre Dame product was drafted in the fourth round of 2021 and may be sadly remembered as having one of the worst performances in recent franchise history. That performance led to his quite pitiful Madden 23 rating, a rating that some still argued was too high:

Ian Book’s career has come to a dead end on the NOLA Saints

You all know what game we’re talking about: a late season matchup against the Miami Dolphins. The Saints were missing many of their offensive starters including their top three quarterbacks and key members of their O-line. New Orleans had no choice but to put Book in, and he failed fantastically.

Book recorded no touchdowns and two interceptions with a 60 percent pass completion rate and was sacked eight times. A Jaylen Waddle-fueled Dolphins squad put 20 points over the Saints’ lone field goal, and New Orleans’ chances of making the postseason dropped dramatically.

In 2022, Dalton provides much more value as an experienced backup and easily knocks Book down the depth chart.

Book probably won’t get cut given that the Saints want padded insurance at the quarterback position, but he won’t see many minutes on the field, either.

For all intents and purposes, Book’s career at NOLA has come to an end. The Saints are just waiting for a better backup to the backup to come along so they can cut or trade him.