METAIRIE, La. (AP) — First-year Saints coach Kellen Moore made all four of his quarterbacks available for interviews after the second practice of training camp Thursday, reflecting how open their competition for the starting job is.
All between the ages of 26 and 24, and without a single NFL victory among them, the four QBs portray themselves more as comrades than competitors.
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New Orleans Saints cornerback Isaac Yiadom and cornerback Alontae Taylor (1) restrain wide receiver Brandin Cooks (10) during a scuffle with cornerback Rejzohn Wright at an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Hunter Dekkers (18) goes through drills with running back Marcus Yarns (34) during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener (3) goes through drills during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler (2) goes through drills during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) goes through drills during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“We’re all kind of around the same age," said Tyler Shough, a 2025 second-round pick out of Louisville who turns 26 in September. "We kind of have that great mindset of: We’re competing, but we’re having fun and we’re trying to get better.”
The early front runners appear to be Shough and Spencer Rattler, a 2024 fifth-round pick out of South Carolina whose six starts last season makes him the most veteran QB on the roster. They took first-team snaps during the first two practices of camp.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a toxic QB room at all. We’re in there having fun, chopping it up,” Rattler said. "I really enjoy working with those guys — and competing with them, too.
“If you don’t want to do that," Rattler added, "you’re probably not built for this.”
Also in the mix are Jake Haener, a 26-year-old 2023 fourth-round pick our of Fresno State; and Hunter Dekkers, a left-handed, 24-year-old undrafted rookie who was signed after a tryout during rookie camp.
“This league does not care about your feelings," said Haener, who also played for Moore's brother, Kirby, at Fresno State.
“If they didn’t truly believe that I could be a guy that they think could win the starting job, they wouldn’t include me in it. Simple as that,” Haener said. "They wouldn’t just (do it to ) make me feel good about myself.”
Haener said he sees himself as an underdog — mainly because that approach has worked well for him.
“I just think I’m counted out for whatever reason — maybe not the most athletic, not the strongest, not the biggest,” the 6-foot-1 Haener said. "That’s been my biggest motivator my whole life.”
Dekkers, meanwhile, is seeking redemption after his involvement in a gambling scandal while he was at Iowa State got him banned from the NCAA. After sitting out the 2023 football season, he played last season for Iowa Western Community College.
“Whenever I get my chance on the field, it’s just to show what I can do; that’s all I can really do at this point," Dekkers said.
“I went through the hardest time of my life the past two years," Dekkers added. “I definitely had a lot of learning moments."
The main lesson, Dekkers said, was not to "take what you have for granted at all, because you don’t know when it can be taken away.”
Moore, who was the offensive coordinator for the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles last season, is a former NFL quarterback himself. So are his offensive coordinator, Doug Nussmeier, and QB coach, Scott Tolzien.
Moore concedes that there are benefits to having a hierarchy at quarterback earlier than later, particularly as it pertains to developing consistency and chemistry on offense. But, given his offensive staff's knowledge of the position, he also likes the idea of molding four young QBs as relative equals until, over the course of camp and preseason games, one distinguishes himself from the others.
“I’m fired up to just let those guys play it out,” said Moore, who is trying to turn around a club that went 5-12 last season and hasn't made the playoffs since 2020. “We’ll let the process take as long as it needs."
Meanwhile, established members of the Saints' offense express confidence that Moore has the right idea about this QB competition.
“The quarterback is the heart of the offense. Whoever’s back there, we’re going to have full confidence in," receiver Chris Olave said. "Whoever’s back there is going to have to play ball.”
Notes: A brief scuffle broke out during Thursday's practice. At the center of it were veteran receiver Brandin Cooks and defensive back Alontae Taylor. Cooks was a 2014 first-round draft choice by New Orleans who returned to the Saints this offseason after playing for other clubs between 2017 and 2024.
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New Orleans Saints cornerback Isaac Yiadom and cornerback Alontae Taylor (1) restrain wide receiver Brandin Cooks (10) during a scuffle with cornerback Rejzohn Wright at an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Hunter Dekkers (18) goes through drills with running back Marcus Yarns (34) during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener (3) goes through drills during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler (2) goes through drills during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) goes through drills during an NFL football training camp in Metairie, La., Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.
Donald Trump isn't leaving it to future generations.
As the first year of his second term wraps up, his Republican administration and allies have put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships.
That’s on top of the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On Friday, he plans to attend a ceremony in Florida where local officials will dedicate a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
It’s unprecedented for a sitting president to embrace tributes of that number and scale, especially those proffered by members of his administration. And while past sitting presidents have typically been honored by local officials naming schools and roads after them, it's exceedingly rare for airports, federal buildings, warships or other government assets to be named for someone still in power.
“At no previous time in history have we consistently named things after a president who was still in office,” said Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “One might even extend that to say a president who is still alive. Those kind of memorializations are supposed to be just that — memorials to the passing hero.”
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the TrumpRx website linked to the president's deals to lower the price of some prescription drugs, along with “overdue upgrades of national landmarks, lasting peace deals, and wealth-creation accounts for children are historic initiatives that would not have been possible without President Trump’s bold leadership.”
"The Administration’s focus isn’t on smart branding, but delivering on President Trump’s goal of Making America Great Again," Huston said.
The White House pointed out that the nation's capital was named after President George Washington and the Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover while each was serving as president.
For Trump, it’s a continuation of the way he first etched his place onto the American consciousness, becoming famous as a real estate developer who affixed his name in big gold letters on luxury buildings and hotels, a casino and assorted products like neckties, wine and steaks.
As he ran for president in 2024, the candidate rolled out Trump-branded business ventures for watches, fragrances, Bibles and sneakers — including golden high tops priced at $799. After taking office again last year, Trump's businesses launched a Trump Mobile phone company, with plans to unveil a gold-colored smartphone and a cryptocurrency memecoin named $TRUMP.
That’s not to be confused with plans for a physical, government-issued Trump coin that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said the U.S. Mint is planning.
Trump has also reportedly told the owners of Washington’s NFL team that he would like his name on the Commanders’ new stadium. The team’s ownership group, which has the naming rights, has not commented on the idea. But a White House spokeswoman in November called the proposed name “beautiful” and said Trump made the rebuilding of the stadium possible.
The addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center in December so outraged independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that he introduced legislation this week to ban the naming or renaming of any federal building or land after a sitting president — a ban that would retroactively apply to the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace.
“I think he is a narcissist who likes to see his name up there. If he owns a hotel, that’s his business,” Sanders said in an interview. “But he doesn’t own federal buildings.”
Sanders likened Trump's penchant for putting his name on government buildings and more to the actions of authoritarian leaders throughout history.
“If the American people want to name buildings after a president who is deceased, that’s fine. That’s what we do,” Sanders said. “But to use federal buildings to enhance your own position very much sounds like the ‘Great Leader’ mentality of North Korea, and that is not something that I think the American people want.”
Although some of the naming has been suggested by others, the president has made clear he’s pleased with the tributes.
Three months after the announcement of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a name the White House says was proposed by Armenian officials, the president gushed about it at a White House dinner.
“It’s such a beautiful thing, they named it after me. I really appreciate it. It’s actually a big deal,” he told a group of Central Asian leaders.
Engel, the presidential historian, said the practice can send a signal to people "that the easiest way to get access and favor from the president is to play to his ego and give him something or name something after him.”
Some of the proposals for honoring Trump include legislation in Congress from New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney that would designate June 14 as “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day," placing the president with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Jesus Christ, whose birthdays are recognized as national holidays.
Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced legislation that calls for the Washington-area rapid transit system, known as the Metro, to be renamed the “Trump Train.” North Carolina Republican Rep. Addison McDowell has introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport.
McDowell said it makes sense to give Dulles a new name since Trump has already announced plans to revamp the airport, which currently is a tribute to former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
The congressman said he wanted to honor Trump because he feels the president has been a champion for combating the scourge of fentanyl, a personal issue for McDowell after his brother’s overdose death. But he also cited Trump’s efforts to strike peace deals all over the world and called him “one of the most consequential presidents ever.”
“I think that’s somebody that deserves to be honored, whether they’re still the president or whether they’re not," he said.
More efforts are underway in Florida, Trump’s adopted home.
Republican state lawmaker Meg Weinberger said she is working on an effort to rename Palm Beach International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport, a potential point of confusion with the Dulles effort.
The road that the president will see christened Friday is not the first Florida asphalt to herald Trump upon his return to the White House.
In the south Florida city of Hialeah, officials in December 2024 renamed a street there as President Donald J. Trump Avenue.
Trump, speaking at a Miami business conference the next month, called it a “great honor” and said he loved the mayor for it.
“Anybody that names a boulevard after me, I like,” he said.
He added a few moments later: “A lot of people come back from Hialeah, they say, ‘They just named a road after you.' I say, ‘That’s OK.’ It’s a beginning, right? It’s a start.”
FILE - A sign for the Rose Garden is seen near the Presidential Walk of Fame on the Colonnade at the White House, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Workers add President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - A poster showing the Trump Gold Card is seen as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
