Saints’ evaluation of Tyler Shough impacted by trades

By Ross Jackson

After trading a pair of offensive starters, the New Orleans Saints still have eight games to get an evaluation on rookie quarterback Tyler Shough. After the departures of one of the team’s top offensive weapons in wide receiver Rashid Shaheed and a starting offensive linemen, left guard Trevor Penning, Shough’s job has become undeniably more challenging.

While Shough’s job does indeed complicate without Shaheed and Penning, and without starting center Erik McCoy and possibly right tackle Taliese Fuaga, it also presents a chance for Shough’s performance to stand on its own.

With all that the Saints’ offense has lost through the first nine games of the season, if the rookie passer performs well, it will be very easy to see. Without a top-flight, field-stretching weapon and multiple offensive lineman, if Shough still impresses, there’ll be no questions about whether or not he deserves the extended opportunity of starting in 2026.

These deals might have made the job a bit more difficult, but it simultaneously charts a path to making an unmistakable impression.

Where the biggest challenge for the evaluation comes into place will be if he struggles. Then the Saints will have to decide if any shortcomings perceived from his upcoming chances as a starter are because he is truly struggling or because of the loss of talent around him. It’s not too terribly dissimilar from the situation that former starter Spencer Rattler faced in 2024. 

While nothing can be entirely taken for granted, it will be intriguing to watch the back half of the season play out. If Shough outperforms expectations, it will be clear and obvious that the future opportunity should be his. But if he can’t play the team out of making the first overall selection in the NFL Draft, the team will then have to decide whether or not the underperformance was Shough’s or what was made available around him.