Well that’s not insignificant. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton outlined his plan for the quarterbacks in their upcoming preseason game with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He’s shuffling the order after their first exhibition game with the Baltimore Ravens, and this time Trevor Siemian is going to get a shot ahead of rookie draft pick Ian Book.
“I definitely want to get a chance to see Trevor play,” Payton said after the team’s Saturday practice session. “We’ll see if we’re able to get Ian in at the end.”
Last time around, Payton set a vision of “18 to 22 snaps” for each of his quarterbacks; Taysom Hill ended up playing 20 snaps, while Jameis Winston saw 19 reps, and Book led the trio with 24. Siemian didn’t get on the field at all, meaning this will be his first opportunity to put anything on tape this preseason. Book didn’t play well in the second half against Baltimore so Siemian has a chance now to keep his spot ahead of the rookie on the depth chart.
It’s probably just so the coaches can evaluate his progress over the summer and decide whether to retain Siemian on the practice squad, but maybe they’re hoping he impresses well enough to draw some trade interest ahead of the last two waves of roster cuts on Aug. 24 and Aug. 31. That was a tactic they took a few years ago in auditioning Tom Savage during the preseason (acquiring Teddy Bridgewater made him expendable), though nothing came of it; Savage was released and spent time with a few other teams, and he’s now out of the league. Maybe Siemian can find more success.
