Draft pundits haven't held back when it comes to criticizing the New Orleans Saints for selecting Tyler Shough as early as they did in the second round. Shough was the third quarterback off the board behind Cam Ward (first overall) and Jaxson Dart (25th overall) and has a chance to start right away in New Orleans.
Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus was one of those draft pundits who wasn't a fan of the Shough pick by the Saints. Not only did he not like Shough as a prospect overall but he was dumbfounded that NOLA passed on Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku to take Shough.
"The Saints could have instead moved away from the quarterback position entirely, especially with a top pass rusher still on the board in Donovan Ezeiruaku. He was one of the top 20 players on PFF's big board as a player who earned a 90.7 PFF pass-rush grade against true pass sets with an 18.2% pass-rush win rate in 2024."
PFF writer hated Saints passing on Donovan Ezeiruaku to take Tyler Shough
Simply put -- Sikkema was not a fan of Shough as a prospect and doesn't back down in saying so. He even mentioned that he understood New Orleans taking a quarterback but thought that Shedeur Sanders or even Will Howard or Riley Leonard should have been on the Saints' prospect list over Shough. Considering all of Sanders' red flags and the other two guys not hearing their names called until late in the draft, that's quite the take.
Make no mistake, however, Ezeiruaku would have been a nice pick for the Saints in the second round. The Boston College product had 16.5 sacks during his senior season with the Eagles and there's no doubt the Saints could use help in their pass rush. He'll likely be looked at as a steal for the Cowboys.
Saints fans have grown accustomed to hearing people criticize the Shough pick at this point. Until we see the guy play in the pros, the only things we have to go off of is what he did in college. Kellen Moore clearly liked what he saw in the Louisville product so here's to hoping that Shough proves Sikkema and the other draft analysts wrong and balls out for the New Orleans Saints.