Through the early portion of New Orleans Saints training camp, all eyes have already turned to the quarterback room, where second-round draft pick Tyler Shough’s uneven work has sparked fresh debate over New Orleans’s Week 1 starter.
Shough was selected 40th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, arriving in New Orleans with a unique resume as a near 26-year-old rookie and one who's played across three Power 5 programs in Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville.
Since reporting for training camp on July 22, Shough has routinely drawn first-team reps alongside last year's fifth-round draft pick, Spencer Rattler.
However, social-media clips, most recently a Thursday montage from X user MathisNFL, highlighted misplaced throws, missed reads and what one local reporter called "the worst 2-minute drive in the history of the NFL" during situational periods.
Who is Tyler Shough?
The 6-foot-5, 219-pound passer was a four-star recruit coming out of Hamilton High School in Arizona and signed with Oregon in December 2017.
After serving as Justin Herbert's backup in 2019 as a redshirt freshman, Shough led the Ducks to a Pac-12 Championship game appearance and a Fiesta Bowl berth in 2020, completing 63.5% of his passes for 1,559 yards and 13 touchdowns while adding 271 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.
The next three seasons Shough spent at Texas Tech, where his 2,922 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and a rare dual-threat element, he became the first Red Raider quarterback since 1976 to register multiple 100-yard rushing games in a single season.
Last season with the Cardinals, he posted career highs of 3,195 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions on 62.7% completion.
The Challenger: Spencer Rattler
Facing Shough across the field is Rattler, a fifth-round pick out of South Carolina who first made his mark at Oklahoma.
In a 48-game college career, he completed 68.5% of his throws for 10,807 yards and 77 touchdowns, ranking fifth all-time in South Carolina history with 6,212 yards and leading Carolina in completion rate (67.5%) over two seasons.
Unfortunately, despite being at one point the No. 1-rated quarterback in the country, Rattler's rookie NFL season left a lot to be desired.
In just seven games (six starts), he threw for 1,317 yards and four touchdowns to five interceptions and five fumbles, completing just 57% of his passes and losing all six games he started in.
Camp Competition Heats Up
Through the first week of practices, the battle remains razor-tight, as Shough, Rattler and 2023 fourth-round pick Jake Haener have all taken snaps with the first-team, according to ESPN.
However, on Wednesday’s full-pad session, Shough's uneven day with two tipped passes in 7-on-7 and shaky pocket presence, stood in contrast to Rattler’s poised touchdown throw to Rashid Shaheed and designed-run scramble.
Fox 8's Garland Gillen reported how through seven full practices, "Spencer Rattler holds the advantage" and that "Shough looks like a rookie out there, things aren't slowing down for him just yet."
Coach Kellen Moore has emphasized how no decision as to who the starting quarterback will be will be made until after the first preseason game on August 10 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Until then, Moore stressed how he wants to see how each quarterback responds to mistakes, rotating reps in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills while monitoring communication, tempo and decision-making.
