And just like that, Who Dat Nation can exhale in a sigh of relief. Okay, not really... This is going to be a challenging year for the New Orleans Saints, but their quarterback room may not be in as much of a state of disarray as we all expected. Derek Carr abruptly retiring left an awful taste in everyone's mouth. With Tyler Shough coming in as a bit of a reach as a second-round pick, people had doubts.
Well, on Thursday, Shough went toe-to-toe with Spencer Rattler in Saints practice. Rattler may have completed 8-of-8 passes with great throws to Chris Olave and Michael Jacobsen, but it was Shough's 50-plus-yard completion to Rashid Shaheed on a sluggo route that caught everyone's eye. This all comes in the wake of fellow quarterback Jake Haener being out for a bit with an arm injury.
What I think people failed to realize is Shough's seven-year college football career at three Power Four schools in Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville is he has seen a little bit of everything. He may not have put the best stuff on tape, but the talent is there, or at least enough for first-time NFL head coach Kellen Moore and first-time NFL offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier to sink their teeth into.
New Orleans may not be expected to do much this season, but the quarterback room may be alright.
Of course, it is going to take a total team effort week after week for the Saints to even approach .500.
Will Tyler Shough end up beating out Spencer Rattler as Saints QB1?
The best thing for the Saints to do is to level this quarterback competition open for as long as possible. Haener being sidelined for a few weeks will not help his case, but he has been in the NFL and a part of this organization longer than either Rattler or Shough. Not to say that will matter, but this not being his rookie or second year in the league could conceivably be a big plus for the Fresno guy.
Of the three quarterbacks of note, Rattler is by far and away the most talented. He was a five-star coming out of high school for a reason. Shough was at one time a promising prospect too, while Haener slipped through the cracks a bit. In theory, Rattler should prevail over his two competitors, but there is one thing Shough has going for him the most. Moore is the one who drafted him out of U of L.
Given that the Saints used precious draft equity on Shough signifies to me that he will be given more opportunities to see what he has than Haener, and probably more than Rattler. The best quarterback option will emerge for the Saints, but I have a hard time seeing any of them starting all 17 games for New Orleans this fall. The Saints might draft a quarterback Nussmeier knows well in the first round.
But until then, Shough will be out there to prove he can play and is not the next Christian Hackenburg.