I think I've identified a quarterback I'll probably be drafting as a No. 2 with the upside to be more than that next season. New Orleans second-rounder Tyler Shough was a lot better than I expected.
Teams just don't let viable quarterbacks slip out of the first round of the draft very often. In the last decade, there's been a single second-round hit: Jalen Hurts. (Others in that timeframe are Will Levis, Kyle Trask, Drew Lock, DeShone Kizer and Christian Hackenburg.) Go back a dozen years and you come up with Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo, but Shough constitutes a rarity these days.
But playing for a last-place team that shipped off two of its top 3 wideouts (Rashid Shaheed and Brandin Cooks) and was down to its fourth-string running back by the end of the year, Shough was remarkably productive. Despite not having much around him, he averaged 270 total yards in his nine starts. That was 7th among all quarterbacks who started at least half the time. Pretty impressive.
| QUARTERBACKS PER GAME, 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | PYd | TDP | RYd | TDR | TYds |
| Jacoby Brissett, Ari. | 12 | 280.5 | 1.92 | 13.8 | .08 | 294.3 |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 14 | 256.2 | 1.57 | 30.1 | .36 | 286.4 |
| Drake Maye, N.E. | 17 | 258.5 | 1.82 | 26.5 | .24 | 284.9 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 17 | 267.8 | 1.76 | 10.4 | .12 | 278.2 |
| Matthew Stafford, LAR | 17 | 276.9 | 2.71 | .1 | .00 | 276.9 |
| Jared Goff, Det. | 17 | 268.5 | 2.00 | 2.6 | .00 | 271.1 |
| Tyler Shough, N.O. | 9 | 250.7 | 1.11 | 19.3 | .33 | 270.0 |
| Justin Herbert, LAC | 16 | 232.9 | 1.63 | 31.1 | .13 | 264.1 |
| Brock Purdy, S.F. | 9 | 240.8 | 2.22 | 16.3 | .33 | 257.1 |
| Trevor Lawrence, Jac. | 17 | 235.7 | 1.71 | 21.1 | .53 | 256.8 |
| Caleb Williams, Chi. | 17 | 231.9 | 1.59 | 22.8 | .24 | 254.7 |
| Bo Nix, Den. | 17 | 231.2 | 1.47 | 20.9 | .29 | 252.2 |
| Daniel Jones, Ind. | 13 | 238.5 | 1.46 | 12.6 | .38 | 251.2 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 17 | 215.8 | 1.47 | 34.1 | .82 | 249.8 |
| Joe Flacco, Cle. | 10 | 245.1 | 1.50 | 3.1 | .10 | 248.2 |
| Sam Darnold, Sea. | 17 | 238.1 | 1.47 | 5.6 | .00 | 243.7 |
| Baker Mayfield, T.B. | 17 | 217.2 | 1.53 | 22.5 | .06 | 239.7 |
| Jordan Love, G.B. | 15 | 225.4 | 1.53 | 13.3 | .00 | 238.7 |
| C.J. Stroud, Hou. | 14 | 217.2 | 1.36 | 14.9 | .07 | 232.1 |
| Jaxson Dart, NYG | 12 | 189.3 | 1.25 | 40.6 | .75 | 229.9 |
| Michael Penix, Atl. | 9 | 220.2 | 1.00 | 7.8 | .11 | 228.0 |
| Jalen Hurts, Phi. | 16 | 201.5 | 1.56 | 26.3 | .50 | 227.8 |
| Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 13 | 196.1 | 1.62 | 26.8 | .15 | 222.9 |
| Aaron Rodgers, Pitt. | 16 | 207.6 | 1.50 | 3.8 | .06 | 211.4 |
| Geno Smith, L.V. | 15 | 201.7 | 1.27 | 7.3 | .00 | 208.9 |
| Bryce Young, Car. | 16 | 188.2 | 1.44 | 13.5 | .13 | 201.7 |
| Cam Ward, Ten. | 17 | 186.4 | .88 | 9.4 | .12 | 195.8 |
| Tua Tagovailoa, Mia. | 14 | 190.0 | 1.43 | 3.1 | .00 | 193.1 |
| Justin Fields, NYJ | 9 | 139.9 | .78 | 42.6 | .44 | 182.4 |
| J.J. McCarthy, Min. | 10 | 163.2 | 1.10 | 18.1 | .40 | 181.3 |
It's not all good. Shough threw just 10 touchdowns in those nine games, which would slot him a lot lower on this table if I sorted by that category.
But he ran in three additional scores, and had multiple total touchdowns in four of his last six games. Iffy while the team looks at receiver after Chris Olave, it doesn't seem like an offense that will be blowing teams off the ball in the run game, either. Schedule also looks promising (New Orleans' opponents this year went 125-163-1 a year ago, while also allowing nearly 24 points per week, both bottom-3 figures).
It's early of course; let's see what upgrades are made to the receiving corps, offensive line and backfield. And we can only hope that the team finally says goodbye to Taysom Hill, who would probably take a few touchdown chances away from Shough if they bring him back yet again.
But seems like a guy I'll be drafting as a second quarterback in leagues, which is not something I expected to be saying a year ago.
--Andy Richardson
