Tyler Shough was the third quarterback selected in the 2025 NFL Draft in the second round by the New Orleans Saints. His lengthy college football career makes him the oldest quarterback in this year’s class, which creates a unusual reunion with one of his old (and now new) teammates.
He is back together with Juwan Johnson!
Shough, the No. 40 overall pick in the NFL Draft, is a product of the COVID-19 and transfer portal era of college football. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound signal-caller also suffered multiple injuries throughout his “amateur” career. He didn’t really become a viable option as a pro until this past fall. It was his seventh (!!) season.
The Arizona-native ranked as the 10th-best quarterback in the recruiting Class of 2018 alongside guys like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. Lawrence just finished his fourth year with the Jaguars. Fields is on his second team in four years.
Tyler Shough will be a rookie. And not just any rookie, a 25-year-old rookie who will turn 26 during the first month of his first NFL season.
Justin Herbert was the starter at Oregon when Shough arrived as a freshman in 2018. He spent two years as the backup for the Ducks. 2020 was his first year as QB1. Oregon went 4-3 with him at the helm.
As a result of the poor performance, Shough hit the transfer portal and ended up at Texas Tech. Unfortunately, he broke his collarbone in 2021, injured his shoulder in 2022 and broke his leg in 2023.
Shough’s first five years of college football did not go according to plan. However, his frustrating injury history allowed him to return in 2024 for one last run.
It led him to Louisville, where he threw for a career-high 3,185 yards (62.7% completion rate) and 23 touchdowns. The Cardinals went 8-4.
New Orleans liked what it saw from Tyler Shough and decided to take him over Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, Quinn Ewers or Jalen Milroe. He will be reunited with Saints tight end Juwan Johnson.
Shough and Johnson played together at Oregon in 2019. The former will be a rookie. The latter is entering his sixth season in the National Football League. Pretty wild!