2025 NFL Draft second-round pick Tyler Shough could be the biggest winner of the Derek Carr retirement.
Before New Orleans Saints fandom looks toward the 2026 NFL Draft with hopes of selecting their next franchise quarterback, they should embrace the quarterback who could lead the team in 2025.
As the third quarterback off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Louisville product was a shocking pick, especially with Shedeur Sanders still on the board, but he may prove to be the wiser chose for the Saints who now have the potential of a rookie starter to start the season for the third time in franchise history.
With 2024 draft pick Spencer Rattler as the main competition, the Saints are setting up for quite the quarterback battle heading into training camp. Both Shough and Rattler have the talent to lead the team and if both were in different situations in college, perhaps they would have been higher picks.
Is the Saints’ quarterback competition Shough’s to lose?
While Rattler has a head start on Shough, it is the rookie who has more experience coming into the league at 25 years old. He has proved when healthy he is a capable starting quarterback. After spending three years at Oregon and three years at Texas Tech, Shough finally had a full healthy season with Louisville last season, throwing for 3,195 yards with 23 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
In fact, that is the only time Shough was able to play a full season, which does put his injury history as a main concern. But what he proved when healthy he has the footwork, accuracy and efficiency to be a solid starter in the NFL if he isn’t asked to do too much. With the Saints entering the season with low expectations, it could be the right opportunity for a quarterback like Shough to shine.
The same could be said about Rattler, but he wasn’t able to take full advantage of his opportunity in his rookie season. If he had, perhaps the Saints wouldn’t have used a second-round pick on Shough as the team would’ve been in a better position after Carr’s retirement. Since the draft happened before the retirement, perhaps Shough was brought in to battle it out with Rattler regardless – as a backup.
Whatever the vision or reason for selecting Shough that high in the draft, Saints head coach Kellen Moore sees a quarterback that, when healthy, has the cerebral processing of the game to be very good at the next level.
"Tyler's experience, certainly there's value to that," Moore said post-draft, via ESPN. "You can see it in the classroom aspect of this thing. His ability to process football at a very easy rate in the classroom. It's really, really good when you throw him up there and you're watching film and you're talking about plays and concepts. He's got great exposure, and he's got great experiences that he can lean on."
So far in organized team activities (OTA’s), Rattler seems to be in the lead, but it seems to be up to Shough to prove he can eventually win the battle and march into the 2025 NFL season as the man under center in New Orleans.