Before this season, Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler was seen as a potential first overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. But after Rattler was benched on Saturday, questions are being raised about whether Rattler will enter the 2022 draft at all, whether he’ll stay at Oklahoma, or whether he’ll transfer and play for another college team next year.
Rattler’s father told Mason Young and Austin Curtright of the OU Daily that Spencer hopes to keep playing for the Sooners this year, even though he’s been demoted to second string behind freshman Caleb Williams. Beyond this year, Rattler’s dad says he might head to the NFL, might transfer, or might stay at Oklahoma.
“For right now, he’s focused on working for this team, and we’ll see what happens after Jan. 10,” Mike Rattler said. “Hopefully he’ll be playing in the national championship on Jan. 10, and then after that we’ll evaluate where he is as far as if any teams are interested in him in the NFL, we’ll consider that. If we think, ‘Hey, you know what, we may ought to do another year or something at Oklahoma, wherever’ . . . we’re leaving our options open whereas that is concerned, but for the most part, right now, we don’t even talk about it, because he’s got a task at hand to deal with.”
Although Rattler played very well in his first year as Oklahoma’s starter in 2020, he hasn’t played as well this year and likely hasn’t shown NFL teams enough to be a first-round draft pick. Given that he’s now behind Williams on the depth chart, Rattler’s best option will likely be to transfer and try to improve his draft stock next year.