Copyright yardbarker
Kellen Moore has plenty of massive choices and decisions to make for the New Orleans Saints in the coming months. The NFL trade deadline looms, and he has a roster that is currently sitting at 1-7 in the basement of the NFC South. Alongside those issues, the young offensive guru head coach is making a notable change to his starting lineup. Enter: rookie quarterback Tyler Shough. Tyler Shough named starting QB for the Saints amid Spencer Rattler's struggles Spencer Rattler simply was not getting the job done in recent weeks for New Orleans. Now, his head coach has made a change, opening the door for Tyler Shough to start at quarterback for the Saints. Shough will assuredly be guaranteed some time to work out some rough edges as a first-year QB in the pros. Kellen Moore assured the media on Monday that he wasn't interested in flipping back and forth between Shough and Rattler. With this key decision, the pressure is officially a bit different for Moore, and he is surely hoping that his players step up for him over the remainder of this season. Shough's performance may dictate what the Saints do in round one of 2026 NFL Draft With the starts, the rookie QB will subliminally place a bit of pressure on his head coach. If he finds early success and is able to help New Orleans unexpectedly win games down the stretch, then Moore could look at positions outside of quarterback early in next year's draft. On the flip-side, massive struggles or clear limitations rearing their head for Shough would push Moore to look at QB - considering the Saints would probably hold a top 3-5 selection in round one. It's an incredibly tough business and reality for Shough when you consider it all. The young QB may show glimpses of impressive play - but so did Rattler. Rattler ended up winning 1 of 14 games he started and led an offense that ranked 30th in yards per play and 29th in points per game from the time he became the starter for New Orleans. Simply put, the line had to be drawn, and that time may come with Shough only getting about half a season of opportunities to show his starting prowess. No matter what - this decision by Moore truly starts his clock when it comes to earning trust with fans and keeping his job in the long-term. While Shough wasn't a first-round QB selection, Moore and his staff (alongside the front office) did spend the 40th overall selection on him in the 2025 NFL Draft. That's not cheap. With the state of the Saints roster, that was a legitimate price to pay for a QB with plenty of questions and concerns as a prospect. Only time will tel how this works out for Moore and the Saints. Regardless, it gives the fans something to look forward to in the coming weeks and a rookie leader for veterans to try to rally around for now.
