The New Orleans Saints drafted Tyler Shough out of Louisville in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft amid uncertainty about their future under center.
Following Derek Carr’s retirement announcement, though, the rookie is the team’s likely opening day starter. What was his experience like in college as he prepares for a starting opportunity in the NFL?
Saints QB Tyler Shough’s College Stats
Shough entered the draft as a seventh-year senior, with injuries being a major roadblock in his development. He played three seasons at Texas Tech but got injured in all three years there before transferring to Louisville.
But when Shough has stayed healthy, he’s been a capable quarterback and shown enough potential for the Saints to invest a premium pick in him.
Starting all 12 regular-season games for Louisville last season, the 6’5″, 225-pound signal caller completed 63.2% of his passes for 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns to just six interceptions.
Before transferring to Louisville, in his three injury-shortened seasons at Texas Tech, Shough appeared in 15 games and completed 62.4% of his passes for 2,922 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
Before that, Shough began his college career at Oregon from 2018 to 2020, where he played in 15 games, completing 118 of 182 passes (64.8%) for 1,703 yards, 16 touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Across all three programs, Shough finished with a 63% career completion rate, 7,820 passing yards, 59 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions. He also rushed for 246 yards and 11 touchdowns over his college career.
Saints Need Shough To Perform as a Rookie
Despite his older age for a rookie, Shough still seems like more of a raw project than an immediate difference maker, but the Saints will need him to develop quickly if they hope to compete in 2025.
“Accuracy, precision, and mechanical quickness are still issues for Shough, but he’s a 93rd-percentile athlete at the QB position,” said PFSN’s Ian Cummings. “He can hit the ground running as a quality backup passer, thanks to arm talent, progression prowess, and a gunslinger mentality, and he has the physical talent and competitiveness to earn a run as an NFL starter.”
“Tyler Shough is volatile with his accuracy and decision making at times, but he has starting-caliber athleticism and arm talent.”
Carr was actually highly efficient when healthy last season, and the offense sorely missed him when he was injured. Carr ranked as the No. 11 quarterback in the NFL last season according to PFSN’s QB+ metric.
In a limited sample size, Carr threw for 2,145 yards along with 15 touchdowns and just five interceptions. The Saints went 5-5 in games Carr played in, but a miserable 0-7 in games without him, where they relied on Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
If the Saints are unable to get quality play from their young quarterback room this season, they’re certainly in for a long year. While the Saints continue to barrel toward the cellar of the NFL with an aging roster and now, an unsure quarterback situation, the rest of the NFC South is on an upward trajectory with talented young rosters led by franchise quarterbacks.
If Shough is unable to fare better than Rattler and Haener, who went 0-7 in their combined starts in relief for Carr last season, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Saints get the No. 1 overall pick at the 2026 NFL Draft. The pressure is on from day one for the Saints’ newest quarterback.
