10 May 2023 , 11:38
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In the aftermath of the NFL Draft, it is standard practice for coaches and front offices to hype up the talent they brought home, but few fourth-round selections get mentioned in the same sentence as Drew Brees.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener, the 127th overall pick in Kansas City last month as the pick of college football found their new homes, is the man in question, with assistant general manager Jeff Ireland delighted by their latest addition to the QB room.
The Fresno State signal-caller has been reunited with a fellow Bulldog alum in Derek Carr, who signed a $150million, four-year deal with the Saints after being pushed out by the Las Vegas Raiders at the end of last season, and Haener has landed in a great spot to learn as the number three on the depth chart behind Carr and former number one overall pick Jameis Winston.
Winston will become a free agent at the end of the 2023 campaign and Haener is being groomed to replace him in the backup role, but Ireland sees significant potential in the fourth-rounder, spotting similarities in his skillset to Saints legend Brees, who delivered the city's only Super Bowl title in 2009.
Both men are on the shorter side for prototypical quarterbacks, with Haener – the sixth QB selected in Kansas City – standing at 6ft and lacking the arm talent of the passers taken before him in the draft.
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But Ireland says Haener plays bigger than his size and he has the intangibles requires to play the position at the NFL level.
"So we tossed a lot of these things around, like the idea of having a young developmental quarterback learn a new system with Derek and Jameis," Ireland told The Times-Picayune. "So that's just a smart business move, in our opinion. We felt like that was a smart move to get a young player in there to develop.
"We just want to see him develop in a system where we feel like it's going to be successful. Learn from two guys that have been doing this and battled as starters in this league. We feel like that's smart business.
"You wouldn't think he was 6ft tall when you watch him. He's got great processing ability. He's got great vision. He's got a quick stroke. He's extremely smart. He's a sixth-year senior, so he's really mature for being a college senior. He's competed in two different programs, he's competed at Washington, competed at Fresno State.
NFL legend Drew Brees. (Getty Images)"And I was just really impressed with the person, how he plays. He's had several fourth-quarter comebacks. He does kind of remind you or there's some similarities to number nine (Brees). He's undersized, the way he creates windows and processing speed, quick release, the accuracy."
Brees, who retired in 2020, joined the Saints in 2006, five years after being drafted by the San Diego Chargers. He was named to the Pro Bowl 13 times across his glittering career and he is behind only Tom Brady on the all-time list of passing yards and passing touchdowns.
Ireland stopped short of making a complete comparison between Haener and Brees, given the latter is sure to be a first-ballot hall-of-famer, but there are striking similarities in their playing style.
Bryce Young, the first overall pick to the Carolina Panthers last month and another undersized QB, was also referenced by the Saints' assistant GM, who argued Haener could have enjoyed comparable success if he had the chance to operate in the same Alabama programme that enabled Young's development into the consensus top quarterback in the draft.
Ireland added: "I mean there's only going to be one of those guys forever. You can't really compare him, and I'm always careful to use the comparison because he doesn't compare to Drew, he's the only one.
"But there are some similarities that make you feel like, OK, maybe he can play similarly to that person. And you thought, 'OK, well you got another short quarterback in the league, you got Bryce Young.
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"He just got picked first in the draft. What if Jake's in that offence?' I just think, hypothetically, Jake would have success if he's at Alabama."