Saints trade up in fourth round for quarterback Jake Haener

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: FEB 01 Reese's Senior Bowl Practice
Getty Images

We’ve had our first quarterback selected on Day Three of the 2023 NFL draft.

With the 127th overall pick, the Saints selected Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener.

Haener will back up his fellow Fresno State alum Derek Carr in New Orleans.

The 24-year-old Haener began his college career at Washington before transferring to Fresno. He played very well at Fresno over the last two seasons, totaling 53 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions, and he was the MVP of the Senior Bowl.

The Saints sent the 227th overall pick in this year’s draft as well as a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft to the Jaguars to move up and draft Haener.

8 responses to “Saints trade up in fourth round for quarterback Jake Haener

  1. They must really like the guy to trade up for him like that. Trading up in the first or second round makes sense. But for a quarterback in Round 4?

  2. Wild the Saints end up with two former Fresno St. Bulldogs as their QBs. Haener smart, processes reads quicly (96 on the S2), tough (look at the UCLA game…insane), and doesn’t get rattled much. Little surprised he went in the 4th, but I imagine that’s the Brock Purdy effect since he’s been compared to him as well.

  3. Saints priorities were o-line and d-line, and they drafted accordingly (though you never can have enough depth, especially on the o-line). They took a flyer on a QB for the future, and Fresno State is a quality program though not the biggest name school. Not horrible…

  4. This kid has all the necessary software. He’s a lot like Brock Purdy. He has the mental part of the position down as well as any QB in the draft, and maybe the best in that department. He can improve in areas like arm strength, but that can happen with work. The things he already brings to the table are much harder to acquire. He’s better than Derek Carr, right now. Carr doesn’t have it between the ears, and he’s gotten plenty of coaches fired because he had the arm talent. He just gets brain freeze as soon as his first option isn’t wide open.

  5. Jake Haener is known as “The Bryce Young of The Mountain West. Except he is bigger at 6’1”, 201 lbs. I wanted him for the Patriots. This is a great pick. You will probably be very happy with this guy. If Carr stays healthy you may not see him outside of pre-season. If Carr gets hurt or he declines and/or retires, Haener will surprise. The only thing I don;t like about this is the relationship between the QB’s may keep Haener from being a true stalking horse, pushing Carr to perform, or get replaced. Carr likely knows Haener personally, so one wonders if Haener will be as aggressive as he would be competing with another QB. This is one of those Day 3 picks that looks really good in the future. He could also become a trading chip and turn into a 2nd or 3rd rounder in the future when his contract is up for renewal.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.