As reported by John Sigler of the Saints Wire and others on Thursday morning, New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener left Wednesday’s OTAs practice with an apparent oblique injury.
Haener, 26, is in his third year as a fourth-round draft choice out of Fresno State. Rookie Tyler Shough and second-year Spencer Rattler were the favorites in the competition to be the New Orleans starter, but Haener was also in the mix. Haener’s injury will likely keep him out of action until training camp. With him sidelined, that could open the door for a second rookie quarterback who the Saints brought in as an undrafted addition. So what’s the story on Hunter Dekkers?
After being out of college football in 2023 because of legal issues, Dekkers played at Iowa Western Community College last season. At Iowa Western, Dekkers completed over 64% of his throws for 3,806 yards with 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Prior to Iowa Western, Dekkers was the starting quarterback for the Iowa State Cyclones. He was out of football in 2023 because he was among several implicated in an NCAA gambling scandal. Dekkers was among dozens at Iowa State facing criminal charges for his role in the accusations. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Dekkers admitted to betting on an Iowa State football game when he was a freshman backup.
Dekkers was also uncovered as making several bets on a DraftKings account that belonged to his mother. However, he claimed he never shaved points or threw games during an interview with ESPN before the draft. He’d ultimately plead guilty to a lesser charge of underage gambling.
As the backup to Brock Purdy with Iowa State in 2020 and 2021, Dekkers completed 25 of 43 passes for 311 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Once Purdy went on to NFL stardom, Dekkers became Iowa State’s starter in 2023. He’d respond with a 66.1% completion percentage, 3,044 passing yards, and 19 touchdowns with 2 additional scores as a runner. He led the Big 12 in completion percentage, attempts, and completions while finishing third in passing yardage. Unfortunately, his 14 interceptions also were the most in the conference.
A left-handed passer, Dekker has good size with nice mobility. He has the arm strength to make any throw and has shown a solid ability to read coverages. If not for legal issues now behind him, Dekkers would have been drafted and could have potentially been a Day 2 selection. He’ll now get a second chance at his pro career for a New Orleans team looking for a starting quarterback under new head coach Kellen Moore.
Tom Brady (Round 6), Brock Purdy (Round 7), Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins (Round 4), plus Tony Romo (undrafted) are examples of overlooked quarterbacks that went on to achieve NFL success. While nobody is yet comparing Hunter Dekkers to any of them, he has the intriguing tools to be a possible surprise and may now have an extra opportunity with Jake Haener’s injury.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints QB injury opens the door for undrafted rookie Hunter Dekkers