Grading the Saints’ signing of former Bears QB Nathan Peterman

New Orleans Saints fans didn’t exactly get the big free agency news they were hoping for on Thursday, with former Chicago Bears quarterback Nathan Peterman joining the team as competition for Jake Haener. They’ll go at it in training camp this summer to determine who is activated on game days to back up Derek Carr. How do you grade this pickup?

Peterman has been well-liked by his coaches everywhere he’s played — including ex-Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who has been around the team as an unpaid consultant — but he’s experienced little success. Since he entered the league back in 2017, no quarterback has thrown more interceptions (13) on fewer pass attempts (160) than Peterman.

So this is a battle that Haener should be expected to win in training camp. If he can’t unseat Peterman and earn the opportunity to run the second-string offense, the Saints have a pretty serious problem on their hands. Hopefully he has it in him.

But we shouldn’t make more of this than it is. Peterman was on the Chicago Bears practice squad last year and shouldn’t be signing for more than the veteran minimum. He’s going to make a minimal impact on the salary cap, if any at all. It’s not like this is going to be a bad contract the Saints are stuck with for years. They aren’t going to be asking Peterman to start games.

Grade: C

It’s fine. This is not a good signing, but it isn’t a bad decision. It just doesn’t move the needle much one way or the other. The Saints needed a third quarterback (and they’ll probably need a fourth, too) to pad out practice reps over the summer. Getting a passer who has started some games and can challenge Haener, while at the minimum salary (as is expected, but unconfirmed just yet) is fine. Just don’t ask Peterman to be more than that, because he’s proven by now that he isn’t a starting-quality quarterback the team can lean on.