Other than the offensive line and Spencer Rattler/ Tyler Shough, there New Orleans Saints haven’t had their starters on the field much this preseason. Kellen Moore announced the team will change up their routine for the final preseason game. The Saints are walking their starters out against the Denver Broncos for one dress rehearsal before the season begins.
Moore said, "the goal is to get just about all of them if they’re healthy." It seems that includes veterans like Demario Davis and Cam Jordan as well. The Broncos are playing their starters too, so there will be a short exhibition between starters on Saturday.
Moore knows "these guys need to play but they need to play together." There was too much turnover for the Saints coaching staff to go into the season cold. There's new systems on offense and defense. To not have the team get live reps prior to the season opener would have been malpractice.
Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler may not play on even playing field
Rattler got a chance to play with Brandin Cooks and Juwan Johnson in the first preseason matchup. Shough played with Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave. You might see both of these quarterbacks get snaps with all of these weapons. Rattler will start the preseason finale, so he’ll certainly take the field with the full complement of offensive weapons.
Moore is unsure how the team will handle rotations at quarterback. The Saints should consider taking an alternating approach instead of each quarterback getting his own shift.
Both quarterbacks getting a chance with the starters during the dress rehearsal would be the best case scenario. It allows you to see Rattler and Shough with the players they'll be playing alongside each Sunday. It also gives them live reps with the same supporting cast. That hasn't been the case through two weeks. There's a lot of value in that from an evaluation standpoint.
One thing Moore won’t do is keep the starters in longer just to get them time with both quarterbacks. He couldn’t definitively say if Shough would play with the starters because it depends on “the depth of the groups and how long they can go.”