Latest news with #Shough
Time of India
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
New Orleans Saints give Tyler Shough historic $10.8M deal as rookie QB battle heats up
Photo by Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images The New Orleans Saints are making a bold move—and putting real money behind it. Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough has signed a fully guaranteed four-year, $10.795 million contract, ending weeks of negotiation and signaling the franchise's belief that the 26-year-old could be the answer under center. The deal, reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter on July 18, is more than just a payday—it's a statement. Not only is Shough the last player in the 2025 NFL Draft to land a fully guaranteed contract, but his deal includes an annual roster bonus structure no other non-first-round pick received. With training camp looming and no clear veteran leader in sight, the Saints have thrown the door wide open for a quarterback competition—and Shough might just walk through it as QB1. Tyler Shough's rise from injury setbacks to QB1 contender gives the New Orleans Saints a bold new hope under center When the New Orleans Saints selected Tyler Shough with the 40th overall pick in this year's NFL Draft, expectations were modest. But the terms of his deal say otherwise. The fully guaranteed structure, coupled with an annual roster bonus that frontloads his earnings before camp, is a rarity outside the first round. That wrinkle reportedly held up the signing—until this week. Now, with the paperwork done, the focus shifts to the field. Shough enters camp as part of a three-man battle for the starting job alongside fellow rookies Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Between them, they have zero NFL wins and only seven combined career starts. 'There won't be a holdout distraction now. It's about football,' one Saints official told WWW Sports after the deal was signed. The Saints' recent history at quarterback has been rocky. Since Drew Brees' retirement, attempts to stabilize the position with Derek Carr, Jameis Winston, and Andy Dalton have fallen short. This year's trio represents a fresh start—but also a major risk. And yet, Shough's journey suggests he's up for it. He began at Oregon, backing up Justin Herbert, before transferring to Texas Tech and then Louisville. Injuries—including a broken collarbone and fibula—derailed multiple seasons, but in 2024 he delivered his strongest campaign yet: 3,195 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, and a marquee road win over Clemson. 'He's been through every possible challenge,' a Louisville assistant told WWW Sports. 'That experience—that toughness—is what makes him different.' His performance earned him College Sports Communicators Comeback Player of the Year honors and an invite to the 2025 Senior Bowl. Shough opted out of the Sun Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft, betting on himself one last time. The Saints, it seems, are now doing the same. The New Orleans Saints are all-in on Tyler Shough to end their quarterback chaos Tyler Shough's journey to the NFL has been anything but ordinary—and neither is the contract he just signed. With $10.795 million fully guaranteed and a path to start in New Orleans, Shough stands at the center of one of the league's most intriguing QB battles. If he wins the job, this deal won't just be historic on paper—it'll mark the beginning of a new era for the Saints. Also Read: Jelly Roll calls Taylor Swift the GOAT live on ESPN — Travis Kelce seals it with the perfect response Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Miami Herald
16-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Will dam break with NFL's 30 second-round holdouts? No guarantee
Only two of 32 second-round picks in the 2025 draft are under contract with NFL training camp set to begin when Los Angeles Chargers veterans report Thursday. Wide receiver Tre Harris, the second-round pick of the Chargers, was a no-show when rookies reported to training camp earlier this week. A total of 30 players selected between picks 33 and 64 are unlikely to report without contracts in a standoff centered around one team's decision -- the Houston Texans -- to hand out the first ever fully guaranteed contract to a second-round pick. Iowa State wide receiver Jayden Higgins signed the four-year, $11.7 million contract in May and would receive every penny of that deal even if he's released or injured. Team president Nick Caserio said the Texans moved up to get Higgins in part because they were surprised he wasn't selected in the first round as their team draft board projected. "Watch him play. Here is a guy that basically made himself into an NFL football player," Caserio said of Higgins, who began his career at Eastern Kentucky. "I mean, go watch him play. He went down to the Senior Bowl and he had a good week. Why did we pick him? Because he's a good player, he's a great kid, he's got the right mindset." The precedent of the guaranteed checks pushed the Cleveland Browns to do the same with the only player picked in the second round before the Texans drafted Higgins 34th overall. Cleveland, which began the trend of fully guaranteed deals for quarterbacks when they acquired Deshaun Watson from Houston (and handed him $230 million over five years), guaranteed the four-year contract with UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger. He'll pocket $11.8 million over the next four years. Portions of pay to NFL second-round picks have been guaranteed since the rookie pay pool and slotting wage scale went into effect in 2011. In last year's rookie class, four-year deals were anywhere from 50 percent to 95 percent guaranteed. The 35th overall pick in the 2025 draft, Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina), and No. 36, Browns running back Quinshon Judkins (Ohio State), are extremely unlikely to fold in negotiations without elevated guarantees. From the 2024 draft class, the first pick in the second round -- Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman -- signed a contract that is all but fully guaranteed (at just under 96 percent) for four years. But despite Judkins' recent arrest, Cleveland's history of giving up leverage in these situations won't be dismissed. If there is a rookie picked in the second round with the most to lose on the field, it could be Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (Louisville). The 40th pick overall, Shough is competing to start in New Orleans following the release of Derek Carr. The breaking point could come down to Shough's view of the financial risk up front and the fallout involved with not reporting to training camp on time. The 40th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean, had $7,469,987 of his $9.2 million contract guaranteed by Philadelphia when he signed in May before rookie minicamp last year. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved
USA Today
01-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Tyler Shough, Brandin Cooks plan throwing sessions before Saints training camp
'I think he understands what it takes to stay in the league and have success' Tyler Shough doesn't have time for vacation. While some of his peers around the league may be enjoying their summer break between OTAs and training camp, the New Orleans Saints quarterback has been busy racking up his frequent flier miles. After an extra week of work with other rookies at the team's mandatory minicamp practices earlier this month, Shough spoke about his offseason plans and counseling high schoolers at the Manning Passing Academy. "Immediately we're gonna go throw in Oregon and Dallas, and we'll get some receivers. It'll be good to connect with them and, like I said before, there's a sense of urgency and we've got to get going," Shough said. He's eager to get to work with his teammates, but Shough says it's a former first-round pick taking point in organizing those summer workouts: "It'll be all the Saints receivers. Yeah, we're getting a good group together. It's Brandin Cooks kind of leading that charge. He's such a great influence, just on the whole team, offensively-wise." Very few players get to enjoy careers as long as Cooks; while he's moved around the NFL a lot since the Saints drafted him out of Oregon State, he's appeared in 158 regular season games and seven playoff matchups, including two Super Bowls. He's stacked up six 1,000-yard seasons, which is tied with legends like Marques Colston and Hines Ward for 30th in NFL history. Younger guys like Shough look up to him, and that's one bond the rookie quarterback hopes to gain a lot from. He sees the immediate value in having Cooks in the receiving corps and the team hasn't played a single down. "It's awesome," Shough added. "Because he's done it in the past. He's had it with Dak (Prescott), he obviously has his place in Oregon. And he's had the experience, he's been with the Saints. I think he understands what it takes to stay in the league and have success. He's something I want to continue to learn from and also grow in my own right as a leader. I want to do everything I can to grow that relationship." That's a good attitude to display, and it lines up with what we've seen from Shough all offseason. He knows he's an underdog. The Saints have a more-experienced quarterback (a couple of them, really) on the depth chart. He has to earn the opportunity to lead the team out of the tunnel in September and he knows it could very well be Spencer Rattler or Jake Haener getting the nod instead of him. So if he can squeeze in some throwing sessions before training camp and pick up some tips from Cooks, he's game for it. Injuries in college meant Shough had to wait longer than most to turn pro. Now that he's here, he isn't wasting a minute.
USA Today
27-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Saints veteran eager to see training camp QB competition play out
'When you see two talented guys just competing, it's truly fun to see' All eyes are on the New Orleans Saints quarterback battle this summer, and that includes the big guys up front charged with keeping the passers clean. Veteran right guard Cesar Ruiz spoke about the competition brewing between second-year backup Spencer Rattler and rookie draft pick Tyler Shough on NFL Network's Good Morning Football program Friday morning, and he's already feeling energized by what the two young guns have shown him. "Two different quarterbacks, right?" Ruiz began. "Everybody has their superpower, everybody is good at their thing. Spencer has something, and I'm like, 'Hey, he got that.' Tyler will come in there, and I'm like, 'Hey... This is just talent.' When you see two talented guys just competing, it's truly fun to see." Ruiz acknowledged that, just because the Saints drafted Shough highly at No. 40 overall, it doesn't mean they have to play him if they have a better option. He remembers coming in off the bench to start his rookie season as the No. 24 pick. He remembers seeing a lot of quarterbacks start for New Orleans in his five-year career, too: Derek Carr (27 games) Andy Dalton (14), Drew Brees (12), Jameis Winston (10), Taysom Hill (9), Spencer Rattler (6), and Trevor Siemian (4), plus Ian Book (1) and Jake Haener (1). He continued, via Nick Shook: "That quarterback competition right now is great to see. It's great because it's two young guys who are both gonna leave their footprint somehow, someway in the NFL, and they're both extremely talented. It's just great to see those two compete and learn and just grow. Both of them are competing. Both of them are progressing. I just love seeing the progress of both of them." Like it or not, there isn't a more important position in pro sports than quarterback. No single player more greatly impacts the game than the passer, and the Saints will go as far as Shough or Rattler can take them. It says a lot that, whether the questions were presented this way or not, Ruiz spoke about this as a two-horse race. The Saints also have third-year pro Jake Haener and undrafted rookie QB Hunter Dekkers on the training camp roster, but neither of them are expected to threaten the two guys at the top of the depth chart. Barring a big surprise it'll be either Rattler or Shough leading the huddle in September. And as far as Ruiz is concerned? He trusts his coaches to make the right choice based off how those guys compete later this summer.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tyler Shough confident he can handle starting as a rookie: 'You're not going to faze me if we start off 0-2 or I f***ing suck'
Tyler Shough graduated high school in 2018, ranked as a top-10 prospect in the same class as Trevor Lawrence. Then he backed up Justin Herbert at Oregon before getting a crack at the starting gig in 2020. Come postseason, Oregon entertained a quarterback rotation that sidelined Shough for parts of the Pac-12 championship and a large chunk of the Fiesta Bowl. He transferred to Texas Tech, where he suffered serious injuries in three consecutive seasons, the last being a fractured fibula that required him to be carted off the field. Advertisement His next and final stop of his seven-year college marathon was Louisville. There, he finally played a complete, 12-game regular season and established himself as a rather unorthodox NFL prospect. Shough went through the good, the bad and the ugly in college, and not necessarily in that order. So, as he prepares to compete for the QB1 role in New Orleans, the 25-year-old second-round pick feels ready to handle the unforgiving pressures that come with being a rookie starting quarterback in the NFL. "I think for me and what I've been through: I've been carted off the field, I've been booed, I've been an MVP, I've been a starter, I've been a backup to Herbert — I'm like, throw some s*** at me, you're not going to faze me if we start off 0-2 or I f***ing suck," Shough calmly yet confidently said Wednesday on the "St. Brown Podcast." Advertisement Shough continued: "It's going to be fine. That's why I was excited about that opportunity, or any opportunity. "And I think, going into it, I've got to continue to get to know the guys. I'm still a rookie. I may be older, but I got to earn the respect of everybody and do my job." Shough has a clear path to starting for the rebuilding Saints, who are now coached by former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. That path suddenly appeared when veteran Derek Carr surprisingly retired on May 10 due to a surgery-requiring shoulder injury. Carr, a four-time Pro Bowler, was approaching his third season with the Saints after nine seasons with the Raiders. Without his presence, New Orleans' quarterback room consists of an unproven foursome, headlined by a rookie in Shough, a second-year signal-caller in Spencer Rattler and a third-year signal-caller in Jake Haener. Advertisement Shough told Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown that learning from Carr "would have been great." But Shough, who will turn 26 in September, knows the kind of opportunity that's in front of him now. It's an opportunity that arrives after a journey that's been far from seamless. "You look back, and it's like, what are you willing to sacrifice to get to that position?" Shough said, via "The St. Brown Podcast." "If you would have told me as a 20-year-old, you're going to get drafted, but you are going to have to wait four or five years and you're going to break your bones three times and you're going to think about not playing football again and you're going to be depressed and you're gonna have all these emotions, but if you just stay at it, then I would have done it, and I did. At that time, you're thinking, 'Why is this happening? What is going on? There's a lot of unknowns.' But that's literally the NFL, that's the game of football." There are more unknowns on the way for Shough, especially if wins the starting job. He believes he's ready to handle it all.
