Tyler Shough, Saints Agree to Fully Guaranteed $10.8M Contract as 2nd-Round Draft Pick

The New Orleans Saints hope they found their quarterback of the future by selecting Tyler Shough in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.

The Saints signed Shough to a four-year, $10.8 million fully guaranteed rookie contract on Saturday, Roc Nation Sports agent Erik Burkhardt told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The 40th overall pick in this year's draft class will begin his NFL career with the opportunity to compete for a starting job right away following the sudden retirement of veteran quarterback Derek Carr.

Shough took a unique path to the NFL. His seven-year college career began in 2018 with a commitment to Oregon. After spending three years with the Ducks, he transferred to Texas Tech and spent three years there before transferring to Louisville for his final year of eligibility.

Before landing with the Cardinals, Shough dealt with multiple significant injuries. He suffered a broken collarbone in his first year at Texas Tech and re-broke it the following season, and a broken fibula forced him to miss the end of the 2023 campaign with the Red Raiders.

Shough finally managed to stay healthy at Louisville, starting 12 games and throwing for 3,195 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. Despite being one of the oldest prospects in the 2025 class at 25 years old, he did enough for the Saints to make him the third quarterback off the board in the draft.

"Tyler's experience, certainly there's value to that," Saints first-year head coach Kellen Moore said after he was drafted. "You can see it in the classroom aspect of this thing. His ability to process football at a very easy rate in the classroom. It's really, really good when you throw him up there and you're watching film and you're talking about plays and concepts. He's got great exposure, and he's got great experiences that he can lean on."

Following Carr's retirement due to the discovery of a shoulder injury, Shough could have the opportunity to make an impact sooner than expected. He will be competing with Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener to set himself apart on the Saints depth chart.