For the first half of the 2025 season, the New Orleans Saints seemed like they had no direction. But then, they gave the keys of the offense to Tyler Shough, and it seems to have breathed new life into the franchise.
Emerging as a legitimate star over the final few weeks of the season, it has given the fan base renewed hope and their potential long-term answer at quarterback. To make an accurate assertion, though, one analyst believes they need to add more weapons to the offense.
Saints Should Add More Weapons for QB Tyler Shough
With Derek Carr announcing his shocking retirement, the Saints were in scramble mode last offseason. But rather than make a hasty decision, they stuck with Spencer Rattler and drafted Shough in the second round.
However, rather than throwing the rookie to the wolves, they chose to start the season with Rattler under center. It wasn’t until Week 8 that he got some burn at the QB spot, in a brutal 23-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But New Orleans stuck with him another week, and he showed some promise. Right before their Bye Week, though, is when he truly kicked things into second gear. Beating the Carolina Panthers, he threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns.
That marked the beginning of a stretch to close out the year, where he finished his rookie season with 2,384 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and six interceptions. As a result, he finished at 23 on PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, light years ahead of Rattler at 35.
However, what made his work even more impressive was the clear lack of weapons on the Saints’ roster. After trading Rashid Shaheed, they didn’t have a reliable wide receiver outside of Chris Olave.
As a result, Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports wants them to go after Quentin Johnston in a trade. Breaking down potential trade ideas for all NFC teams, he believed the Los Angeles Chargers’ wide receiver could be the right secondary piece for this offense.
“The 6-3, 208-pounder arrived with huge expectations after being the 21st overall pick in the 2023 draft, but he’s struggled to live up to them and has seemingly maxed out as a 50-catch, 700-yard, No. 2 receiver,” Vacchiano wrote.
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However, the trade could make sense for LA as well. “Johnston was drafted by a different Chargers regime, so the current one should be willing to move on from an underperforming player,” Vacchiano noted.
The only real question is the trade return, where Vacchiano believes a third-round pick this year, alongside a conditional sixth-rounder in 2027, could do the trick.
“But the Saints could see value in adding a big target next to Chris Olave for their emerging quarterback,” Vacchiano continued. “And their third-round pick could be enough to convince Jim Harbaugh to give up on him, since it would be relatively high in that round.”
It would all depend on the verdict for Shough in New Orleans. But the early returns have been overwhelmingly positive, and a reliable deep threat on a four-year, $14.9 million contract, which he signed in 2023, would be perfect value for this squad.
