Tyler Shough isn't yet in a full sprint, but he's well past baby steps.
The New Orleans Saints' second-year quarterback is in his first offseason as the unquestioned starter, after nine starts in 2025 helped produce five wins for the 6-11 Saints. Shough, a second-round pick who was in a three-man competition for the starting job last year, removed the clutter with a performance that made him a finalist for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
"It's a little bit cleaner with Tyler just getting all those first reps and getting him as much experience with those veteran guys as we can," Saints coach Kellen Moore said Monday morning, prior to the Saints Hall of Fame golf tournament.
"I just say, you start on a really high floor just from an understanding and from a concept standpoint. It allows us to just keep building, as opposed to starting from the first steps, and keep building. And we recognize all the good things that happened last year and the things we feel really comfortable with, allows us to explore and find the new avenues that we can take on offense."
Shough completed 221 of 327 passes for 2,384 yards and 10 touchdowns, with six interceptions, and ran for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 45 carries in 11 games.
His comfort level, accordingly, is heightened.
"You're going into Kellen's offense (in) year 2, we're being able to really focus on what we want to focus on and the sense of urgency I think is the biggest thing that I've been focusing on for the whole unit," Shough said. "And we're having fun putting in the work. We're really close, I think that's the best part about it.
"I think it's really, sit down and evaluate the film from last year and kind of tweak what we may call certain things, and then also tailor it to how we're trying to attack defenses this year. That was really cool, to see throughout this install process in Phase Two, there was a self-evaluation from my part and what I can work on footwork-wise and setting the pocket and then offensively and how we can get better there."
Part of that process involves Shough's playbook input.
"I think it's just a continuous conversation, and I just think that's the way it's structured," Moore said. "Any time we have installs or any time we're going through a process, it's open dialogue — we like this or we're going to tweak this — and just keep going. That's part of this whole offseason build.
"Tyler's doing great. I think just the leadership of this entire offseason program, what he's been doing from that standpoint has been incredible. He leads in a really powerful way and it's been a lot of fun to see him lead."
It also is beneficial to Shough's teammates to have an unquestioned starter.
"Even before, we've been throwing for quite a while," said tight end Juwan Johnson who had career highs in receptions (77) and receiving yards (889) last season, with three touchdowns. "We've been in the offseason throwing since March, February. But knowing who's going to be throwing the ball to you makes it a whole lot better, because then you get to talk through things that you wouldn't with two or three different quarterbacks.
"When you have somebody that you know that's going in, can trust you, (you can) say I want it this way — just the nuances of that, it makes it a lot better than kind of going in, talking to one quarterback saying, 'Yeah, I like it like this,' and then going to another guy, and then you say you like it like this, and everything gets misconstrued in terms of language and terminology. Tyler's got the job, he's doing it and just excited to see him play."
VETERAN STATUS REPORTS
...Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis said Monday that the team has extended a contract offer to free agent edge rusher Cam Jordan, but not to free agent Taysom Hill. "Those guys have earned the right for self-determination, so we're not going to put any deadlines on anything," Loomis said. He said that he and Hill will have more of a discussion in the future.
...Regarding running back Alvin Kamara, Loomis said: "We're just trying to see how he's going to fit in our roster and obviously there's a resource management element to it. We'll get to that over the next week or two." He said the pending start of OTAs on May 28 create a bit of a deadline, but not a hard and fast deadline.
TYSON UPRAMP
...Receiver Jordyn Tyson, the Saints' first-round draft pick, continues the evaluation process after sitting out the second day of rookie minicamp on May 9. Moore said Tyson sat out for maintenance purposes, rather than injury.
"He's continuing to ramp himself up," Moore said. "Like all of these rookies, they get here and we kind of get a feel for their bodies and where they're at and through the whole offseason process they've gone through. They're ramping themselves up.
"We'll see where they're at. I think all these rookies returning trying to build them up, I think the main thing is Phase Three is really a ramp up into training camp and that's the main focus. We'll see where they're at in the next few days."
