The New Orleans Saints have spent the years since Drew Brees retired in the 2021 offseason searching for stability at quarterback, and the full picture is striking: nine different passers have started games since then. That number tells the story better than any single spell of form. For a franchise that once built everything around Brees, the post-retirement era has been defined by turnover, short-term fixes and too many unsettled Sundays.
The most recent examples are enough to show how uneven that stretch has been. In 2024, Jake Haener started against the Washington Commanders and was benched at halftime after what he described as an “almost comeback.” Spencer Rattler then became part of the larger discussion across the 2024 and 2025 seasons, when his record as a Saints starter finished at 1-13. That alone gives the Saints' quarterback situation a grim consistency: the names have changed, but the uncertainty has not.
The early post-Brees years set the tone
The search began quickly after Brees stepped away. In Week 8 of the 2021 season, Trevor Siemian relieved Jameis Winston during the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of several early signs that the Saints were willing to keep trying different solutions rather than settle on one answer for long. That same season also produced the kind of split results that became familiar: Taysom Hill started in Week 15 of 2021 and the Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0, but the following week Ian Book started against the Miami Dolphins and the Saints lost 20-3.
Those swings capture the challenge. One week can look functional, even promising. The next can collapse into a reminder of how hard it is to replace a quarterback who defined the organisation for so long. Hill's 9-0 win was a standout because it showed how the Saints could survive with defence, field position and structure. Book's 20-3 loss against the Miami Dolphins, by contrast, showed how narrow the margin can be when the passing game does not hold up.
Why the ranking matters now
What makes this ranking so useful is that it strips away the noise and puts the Saints' quarterback story into one simple frame. The list is not just about talent. It is about reliability, durability and whether the team can find a starter it trusts across multiple seasons. That is the real issue for the Saints now, because nine different starters since the 2021 offseason is not a stopgap problem. It is a structural one.
The broader lesson is obvious. The Saints have seen enough different styles, enough different outcomes and enough short-lived auditions to know that quarterback remains the central question. Until that changes, every ranking of the post-Brees era will carry the same conclusion: the franchise is still living with the scale of the void he left behind.
