While Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler have impressed local media during organized team activities, the prevailing national thought is the Saints are set to reinvest in the quarterback position. It's the most important position on the field, so it makes sense to project future investment if you're unsatisfied with the room. It's just not a like course of action for the New Orleans Saints.
Options have included veterans like Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, if he's released, or free agent Carson Wentz. Cousins or Wentz would just provide Shough a year to sit before assuming the starting role. The most popular investment plan is Arch Manning.
While the veteran quarterback is an understandable route, Manning or any other rookie would be a complete 180 from where the Saints are headed. Already putting the Saints in first-round is merely a projection of how pundits viewed Shough coming out of the draft.
While it isn't impossible the Saints grab a quarterback in next year's draft, it should be viewed as very unlikely.
Kellen Moore drafted Tyler Shough as the future of the Saints
Shough and Rattler are competing for the starting role, but Shough was drafted to be the quarterback of the future. He'll have to earn that role this offseason, but that's why he was drafted. Analysts and fans can feel how they want about the decision to pick Shough. The fact of the matter is he is an investment for the future.
Positioning Shough as a stopgap goes directly against the Saints' plans, and their plans are worth more than whether or not you like that player. Drafting Shough to be the future should give him at least two years of leash. If you are dead set on Manning, there's a good chance he doesn't come out this year. You could get him in 2027.
What would it take to make the Saints change their plans and reverse course?
If Arch Manning is on the table, things have gone terribly wrong
Drafting the quarterback of the future right after the Saints drafted their quarterback of the future would require the Saints to quickly determine they made an egregiously wrong decision with Shough. What does that look like after one season, however?
Specifically, the Saints would have to, first, be bad enough as a team to be in range for a top quarterback in next year's NFL draft. If the Saints are in the middle of the first round, picking another quarterback just wouldn't make sense.
Assuming a base level of team failure, Shough would have to be largely responsible for that failure. Basic rookie mistakes aren't enough. It would require constant indefensible moments that are highly tied to the accumulation of losses.
If Rattler starts the season and is benched at some point during the season, Shough may still warrant a full season before passing judgement on the rookie. If you're investing in another quarterback this high, this quick, it has to be crystal clear there's no hope for the players in the room.