New Orleans hasn’t had much to get excited about at quarterback in a long time. That’s starting to change, and it’s happening faster than most people expected.

Tyler Shough started nine games as a rookie in 2025, and once he settled in, the numbers turned heads. Across 11 total appearances, he completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 2,384 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions, adding another 186 yards and three scores on the ground. The Saints went 5-4 in his starts. But the real story is how he finished. From Week 12 on, Shough was the QB6 in fantasy points per game, averaging 25 rushing yards a night to go with efficient, accurate passing. He capped it off with a 333-yard, two-touchdown performance in a comeback win over Tennessee, the kind of outing that makes a front office start planning around you.

The Supporting Cast Just Got Loaded

If Shough’s rookie flashes were the appetizer, New Orleans spent this offseason building the main course. General manager Mickey Loomis brought in Travis Etienne Jr. to take over as the lead back, upgrading the run game and taking pressure off Shough’s arm on passing downs. Then came the eighth overall pick in the draft, used on Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson, a vertical threat who immediately gives Shough a true deep weapon to pair alongside Chris Olave, who’s grown into a legitimate WR1. Add tight end Oscar Delp and a deeper receiver room overall, and Shough enters his second season with more talent around him than he’s ever had.

Head coach Kellen Moore’s system only adds to the optimism. Moore runs one of the league’s fastest-paced, most pass-heavy offenses, and coaches around the league have pointed to that combination, more comfort in the scheme plus better weapons, as the exact formula that tends to produce big second-year jumps at quarterback.

The Experts Are Buying In

The national attention has followed. Fox Sports analyst Ben Arthur named Shough the quarterback from the 2025 draft class most likely to break out in year two. ESPN’s Mike Clay went further, projecting Shough to finish fourth in the NFL in passing yards this season with 4,051, a number that would have ranked fifth in the league last season. CBS Sports views him as a high-end QB2 worth drafting as early as Round 12 in fantasy leagues, pointing to his blend of accuracy and rushing production as one of the higher floors at the position heading into the season.

None of this comes without real questions. Shough will turn 27 in September, older than most players entering their second year, and some analysts have pointed out that if he’s already close to his ceiling, the leap New Orleans is counting on might not materialize. It’s a fair thing to watch, even if it undersells how limited his actual game experience against NFL defenses still is. A full offseason as WR1 for Olave, a true deep threat in Tyson, and a much-improved backfield should give Shough every opportunity to answer that question definitively.

What This Means for New Orleans

The Saints went 6-11 last year, but there’s real reason to believe that record undersells where this team is headed. Between Shough’s late-season surge, the influx of new weapons, and Moore’s system finally having its full toolkit available, New Orleans has quietly built one of the more promising quarterback situations in the NFC. If Shough takes the step people around the league expect, the Saints’ rebuild might end up moving a lot faster than anyone outside New Orleans is currently giving them credit for.