South Carolina Football: NFL executive supports Spencer Rattler

South Carolina football Spencer Rattler was picked in the 5th round of last week's NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. It was a later-than-expected selection for the former Gamecock quarterback, but he wound up going to a good situation that combines an opportunity for him to sit and learn behind veteran Derek Carr and potential early playing as the organization and fan base seem to be close to ready to move on from Carr.

During Rattler's fall through the draft, some reporters (most namely ESPN's Pete Thamel) argued that his high school appearance on the Netflix documentary QB1 was a big reason for his fall. It likely was an overblown report designed to get ratings for the broadcast and clicks on social media because anyone who has paid attention knows that the documentary (from when Rattler was 17) does not accurately reflect who he is today.

Several prominent names have spoken out in support of Spencer Rattler and denounced the report that QB1 was significantly hurting his draft stock. South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and a large number of media members in the football world came to Rattler's defense quickly by speaking of their personal interactions with the new Saints quarterback.

After the dust from the draft settled a bit, an anonymous NFL executive joined the fray. According to a report from Mike Sando of The Athletic that was in his post-draft breakdown, an NFL exec told him that QB1 didn't help Rattler, but the idea that it was a massive deterrent for teams drafting him was inaccurate because "he has matured" and is a "really coachable" player.

The narrative surrounding Rattler is lazy (it started nearly seven years ago), and there have been no issues with his character or maturity in recent years. Hopefully, the public defense of South Carolina football's all-time leader in completion percentage (he'd have more records, but he was only in Columbia for two seasons) will go a long way in killing the narrative once and for all.