New Orleans Saints backup quarterback Jake Haener announced Friday that he's been diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer. Haener wore a small bandage on his face during Friday's training camp practice, but told reporters that it's not a "life-threatening thing right now." Still, he said that this form of cancer is rare to see at 25 years old.
The second-year signal-caller out of Fresno State said he noticed a bump on his face that continued to grow. A biopsy revealed that the bump was cancerous. Haener has a meeting with doctors next week to determine what will happen next.
"I feel like I'm pretty young and healthy to be able to have something like that pop up," Haener said. "But I want to take care of it and be responsible about it, obviously not make it a distraction because I'm going to be fine, everything's going to be taken care of."
Haener was selected by the Saints in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. In his final season at Fresno State, he was named First Team All-Mountain West after throwing for 2,896 yards, 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions in 10 games played.
Last year, Haener was suspended for the first six weeks of the 2023 season due to a violation of the league's performance-enhancing drug policy, and did not appear in a single regular-season game. This preseason, he will battle rookie Spencer Rattler for the right to back up Derek Carr.