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METAIRIE — In Sean Payton’s four seasons with the New Orleans Saints, only two quarterbacks other than Drew Brees — Jamie Martin and Mark Brunell — have taken a snap from center.

Of the two, only Brunell has started a game, and that was the 2009 season finale when the Saints had nothing to play for having already clinched homefield advantage for the playoffs.

Barring an injury to Brees, which no one associated with the Saints wants to ever think about, it’s likely that one or two of the three other quarterbacks in training camp this season will be the equivalent of Brees’ caddy.

The early favorite to be Brees’ understudy is former Tulane standout Patrick Ramsey, who made his way back to Louisiana eight seasons after being a first-round draft pick of the Washington Redskins in 2002.

But second-year pro Chase Daniel, who was the third quarterback for seven games and Brunell’s backup for one, is trying to make it a two-man race after getting most of the second-team reps during the team’s offseason workouts.

Also on the training camp roster is seventh-round draft pick Sean Canfield, who, at best, is trying to earn a spot on the practice squad.

Ramsey has made up some ground and has been getting the second-team work since signing with the Saints on the eve of training camp in late July.

Because the Saints were one of the final four teams in the postseason last season, they could sign an unrestricted free agent only after losing one — which meant they had to wait until July 22 to sign Ramsey, who split the 2009 season with Tennessee and Detroit.

Despite the disadvantage of coming in late, Ramsey knows what he has to do to nail down the job as Brees’ backup — which is a daunting proposition in itself because Brees, who has been chosen to the Pro Bowl three of the past four years, is the Super Bowl MVP.

“You work on a curve considering who the starter is,” Ramsey said. “You try to emulate what he does. He’s so skilled at what he does, and what you really want to do is emulate what he does and try to be much the same as you can be within yourself running this offense.”

Ramsey had a good outing in the Saints’ preseason opener with the New England Patriots on Thursday night, hitting 7 of 11 passes for 111 yards with a 51-yard completion. He also had a passer rating of 97.2.

“There are a lot of little details that I can work on, and there are a few big things in there,” he said. “There was a long ball in there that was close to a big play, and you always like to get those. I critique myself pretty heavily, so I think there’s a lot of things I can work on.”

After competing for a starting job most of his NFL career, however, Ramsey is in a strange situation knowing Brees is the man. And he’s can live with it, much like Brunell did.