Saints enjoying benefit of quarterback success

By Ross Jackson

This offseason has had every different tone than in previous years for the New Orleans Saints. Thanks to an astute and successful investment in the most important position in professional sports, the Saints are on a strong upward trajectory that’s hard to miss, and it’s already paying dividends.

After landing quarterback Tyler Shough with the No. 40 overall selection in last year’s NFL Draft, the Saints answered their biggest question that hung a dark cloud over the team previous seasons: who is the quarterback?

The question no longer holds water in the Crescent City. The answer is Shough. Which creates a new path forward for the team.

Following the retirement of NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees, the team saw a quarterback battle between passers Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. However, by the end of that season New Orleans saw four different starting quarterbacks on the way to the first year of its five-year playoff drought.

In 2022, then-head coach Dennis Allen made the switch from Winston to Andy Dalton as the full-time starter while overseas in London, Dalton held on to the role through the remainder of the season despite questions of whether or not Winston would return to the helm after injury.

Going into 2023, the team’s pursuit of quarterback Derek Carr drew a lot of intrigue over the course of the offseason before becoming the team’s quarterback for the next two seasons. While his second year didn’t provide many question marks about who the starter would be, a ‘QB2’ battle between Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler dominated training camp.

Rattler and Shough battled for the starting role at the top of 2025 amid uncertainty around who would lead the way to start the year. Rattler started eight games that season, the final nine went to Shough.

Thanks to Shough’s promising performance, this year’s offseason is completely devoid of quarterback unpredictability. Instead, the Saints are in position to go into another season with Shough at the helm, focused on building around the quarterback position rather than solving it.