Saints HC Kellen Moore said that QB Tyler Shough has proven enough on the field and has shown significant improvement for the team to be comfortable with him as their starter in 2026.
“ Tyler’s done an awesome job through this entire process. He’s gotten a ton better. He’s taken advantage of a bunch of opportunities, ” Moore said, via ESPN. “ We’re excited to have a full offseason to build. “
Saints GM Mickey Loomis said that while the team has high expectations of Shough entering his second season, they also plan to remain patient as he still doesn’t have a full year of starts under his belt.
“ I probably am overly patient. Sometimes your greatest strengths become a weakness, and so I’m really patient, I feel like, and whether it helps or not, hopefully it does, ” Loomis said. “ I think it does, but I’ll continue to be that way. Again, we’re excited about Tyler … but we have to remember that he hasn’t had 17 starts yet, so we’re going to go into next season with these high expectations and there’s nothing wrong with that. But we also have to temper that by the fact that … he’s a second-year quarterback and he’s had less than full season to start. So we’ve got to keep that in mind as we go forward. There are building blocks here and we cannot skip any steps. “
Shough, 26, was a four-star recruit ranked as the sixth overall quarterback in the 2018 class out of Chandler, Arizona. He committed to Oregon and enrolled for the 2018 season
Shough entered the portal after three years at Oregon and committed to Texas Tech for the 2022 season. He entered the portal for his final year of eligibility in 2024 after three years at Texas Tech and committed to Louisville.
The Saints used the No. 40 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Shough. He just finished the first year of a four-year, $10,793,226 rookie contract that included a $4,489,22 signing bonus.
In 2025, Shough appeared in 11 games for the Saints with nine starts and completed 67.6 percent of his pass attempts for 2,384 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed 45 times for 186 yards and three touchdowns.
We’ll have more on the Saints and Shough as the news is available.