If the New Orleans Saints want to get the best out of promising young quarterback Tyler Shough, keeping him upright has to be a major factor in his continued growth.
By investing in both the offensive line and the weapons surrounding him on offense, the team has put forth a clear effort in achieving this goal. But some of the responsibility will fall on Shough, as well.
There’s nothing that Shough did specifically wrong or poorly in this matter during his rookie year. There were simply things that would be considered usual for young quarterbacks to experience in their first NFL season.
While Shough did a great job taking care of the football (only a 1.8% interception interception rate), as well as extending and making plays while under pressure, he also took a heavy percentage of sacks relative to how rarely he was pressured.
During his nine starts, he was pressured only an average of 11.8 times per game, per Next Gen Stats. However, he was also sacked 3.22 times per matchup over those nine contests. Getting the frequency of sacks to match the frequency of pressure in 2026 will be a critical step toward continued development for Shough.
Now, Shough still led the team to five wins and a number of huge plays in the midst of all of this. Again, it’s nothing surprising for a rookie quarterback. For instance, Tennessee Titans rookie Cam Ward was sacked 3.24 times per game, ranking No. 4 among qualified starters (at least 200 passing attempts) to Shough’s No. 5 ranking.
But progressing toward more throwaways, getting the ball out quicker and operating in rhythm will all naturally help things get even better for the young passer and New Orleans’ offense.
During his nine starts, Shough was pressured only 107 times. That’s well below the NFL’s 13-game average of 169. This still makes sense with a number of quarterbacks seeing up to four more starts than Shough. Despite that, his 9% sack rate during those games ranked as the ninth-highest in the NFL and his 25.89% pressure-to-sack rate ranked as the second-highest in the league.
Bringing these numbers back closer to league average (6.6% sack rate and a 17.22% pressure-to-sack ratio) will help Shough and the Saints’ offense make massive strides in 2026. The good news for them and Saints fans is that a lot of this improvement happens naturally as a player makes the transition from college to the pros.
Shough’s promising rookie year flew in the face of concern around these numbers, and improving them in year two only makes the runway wider and the trajectory more promising.
