Tyler Shough chosen as Saints’ starting quarterback

By Ross Jackson

NEW ORLEANS, La. – After benching the season starter at quarterback, Spencer Rattler, partway through the third quarter in last week’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New Orleans Saints have reportedly named rookie quarterback Tyler Shough as their next starter.

Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the team will move ahead with Shough, though they did leave the door open to go back to Rattler.

Sources: The future is now in New Orleans, with the #Saints making rookie QB Tyler Shough their starter.

Spencer Rattler now heads to the bench, while the second-rounder moves to the forefront in a decision coach Kellen Moore informed them of today. pic.twitter.com/yO2MJ86vJ6

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 28, 2025

After the game against the Buccaneers, Moore said that he elected to put Shough in in order to generate “a spark” on offense. But Moore has also said repeatedly that he’s not a fan of flip-flopping quarterbacks. 

Once that mid-game shift was made away from Rattler, it appeared that the change would last much longer than the second half of the game against the Bucs. Turnovers and a lack of rhythm on offense were both mentioned as reasons for the initial benching of Rattler, which each likely played a large role in the decision to continue forward with their rookie options.

Rattler had committed six turnovers in Week 7 and Week 8 combined after doing an excellent job taking care of the football before traveling to Chicago to face the Bears. 

New Orleans, after seeing eight starts from Rattler, will now have a maximum of nine games to look at Shough, drafted No. 40 overall in this year’s NFL Draft. After that, the team should have enough information about the passers in the building in order to make an educated decision about how to proceed at quarterback in the offseason.

Shough has completed 17 of his 32 passes in the limited action he’s seen this season. He is credited with an interception and a 53.2 passer rating going into his first start. He’ll see his first action as the lead-off passer this weekend in the team’s Week 9 matchup with the Los Angeles Rams.