Spencer Rattler looking for revenge on Sunday but not against Dennis Allen
The New Orleans Saints will travel to Soldier Field in a week 7 NFC showdown against the Chicago Bears. This matchup will feature two intriguing quarterbacks that were selected in the 2024 draft class, Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams.
Rattler and Williams will face off for the first time in their NFL careers, but they're far from unfamiliar with each other. Both quarterbacks have gotten off to solid starts this season and are emerging as part of the leagues new wave of young and promising signal callers.
The two quarterbacks are fierce competitors and will both aim to display it by bringing their A game. This is a matchup a matchup fueled by familiarity, as the two share history with a competitive past.
Spencer Rattler getting benched for Caleb Williams is a turning point in both of their careers
Rattler and Williams have a unique history that dates back to their collegiate careers at the University of Oklahoma. Both quarterbacks were apart of the Sooners roster, with Williams eventually replacing Rattler as the starter mid season. This change followed after Williams rallied the squad from a 21 point deficit against the Texas Longhorns, a defining moment that marked a turning point in their respective careers.
Following that season, Williams transferred to USC, where continued to build a reputation as a dynamic quarterback, ultimately winning a Heisman trophy and becoming the number 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Meanwhile, Rattler transferred to the University of South Carolina where he worked to refine his skills and prove that he was still a capable NFL prospect. He views this benching as a turning point that ultimately set him on a better path.
A duel fueled by respect and competitive fire
The two haven’t really spoke much since their departures from Oklahoma and don’t have much of a relationship. When asked about their friendship, Rattler kept it respectful saying,
Both quarterbacks have demonstrated their talent and potential, giving a sense of optimism within their organizations and fanbases. That promise will be on full display this Sunday, as the rivalry continue with the two facing off for the first time in their professional careers. Their long awaited showdown marks the beginning of what could become a compelling duel for years to come.
Colts' move fans slammed is quickly turning into a masterstroke
Indianapolis Colts’ fans haven’t had all that much to cheer about since Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement after the 2018 season. One of the more pleasant stories in those drab days concerned Will Fries.
Fries was selected in the seventh round of the 2021 draft. The end of the seventh round, just ten spots away from being Mr. Irrelevant. The last of 13 guards taken that year. Nonetheless, Fries was starting at right guard by his second season and was firmly entrenched by his third. He did it with hard work, toughness, and smarts. It was the kind of make-good story everyone loves.
When he got hurt in 2024, it put both the player and the team in a bit of a bind. Fries’s rookie contract was up. He was scheduled to be a free agent. What would the market be? A steady young guard on the rise. An injury. Could Chris Ballard afford to re-sign him? That’s the standard blueprint, isn’t it? Identify a quality player in the draft, develop him, and lock him up long term. Then repeat the process at another position.
Matt Goncalves is making Indianapolis Colts’ fans forget all about Will Fries
In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 season, many publications urged Ballard to make retaining Fries a priority. Many fans agreed. Sign him, and the team is set at guard for the foreseeable future. But it soon became clear that despite his injury, the price tag for Fries was going to be high. Ballard had a tough decision.
In hindsight, two things probably impacted what the GM chose to do. The first was the reality of roster construction in the salary cap era. The second was the presence of Matt Goncalves.
The Colts were already paying left guard Quenton Nelson commensurate with what a future Hall of Famer still in his prime deserves. Shelling out major dollars to the right guard would throw the roster balance out of whack. Few teams can afford to have so much of their cap space devoted to two interior linemen.
Ballard needed to extend left tackle Bernhard Raimann, and that was going to be very difficult if he was to equal the market price for Fries. Minnesota ended up signing Fries to a five-year, $87 million deal, roughly half of which was guaranteed. Though bonuses reduce his cap hit this season to a little under six million, it will balloon in subsequent years into the $20 million range.
Meanwhile, Matt Goncalves was about to enter his second year. The 2024 third-round pick out of Pittsburgh still had three years left on a rookie contract that owed him a little over a million dollars per season. Clearly, he was a better bargain. The question was, could he play?
Goncalves entered the league as a tackle. In his rookie year, that’s where he took his snaps. When Fries went down last year, another rookie – UDFA Dalton Tucker – picked up some of the slack. Late in the season, the team brought Mark Glowinski back to town to provide some veteran play. But neither Glowinski nor Tucker looked like a viable option to start in 2025.
A plan emerged to shift Goncalves inside to right guard. Shifting a college tackle to guard is fairly common in today’s NFL. The Cowboys' Tyler Smith made the transition and then made the Pro Bowl. One of the veterans Ballard was urged to sign this offseason – the since-retired Brandon Scherff – was a college tackle who became an All-Pro guard in the NFL.
So far, the move has worked even better than most fans could have hoped. Despite a relatively poor game against Arizona in Week 6, Goncalves currently grades out as the 24th-best guard in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). That has him ranked ahead of the aforementioned Tyler Smith as well as Carolina’s Robert Hunt – both Pro Bowlers in 2024.
Even more significantly, he is ranked twelve spots ahead of Will Fries.
PFF rankings are not perfect. Matt Goncalves, rankings aside, may not be better than Will Fries. But that ranking, combined with the eye test, is a pretty good indicator of the fact that Ballard made the right decision. Goncalves is pairing with Nelson (second in the PFF rankings) to give Indianapolis one of the best guard tandems in the league.
And at just 24 years old, he has nowhere to go but up.
