It's been a rough couple of seasons for New Orleans Saints fans but, hopefully, the tides are finally starting to turn. It certainly felt like that was a possibility in the back half of the 2025 season with the Saints starting to win games and looking like they had a potential franchise quarterback in Tyler Shough.
Bill Barnwell of ESPN agreed that Shough showed promise. That's why the offseason move he picked as New Orleans' best was "Stocking the cupboard for Tyler Shough". After explaining how the Saints already had talent on their roster for Shough, Barnwell then described what NOLA did to continue to build around their hopeful franchise signal-caller.
"... the Saints plowed forward and made significant upgrades. First-round pick Jordyn Tyson's stock rose throughout the draft process, and although there are injury concerns about the Arizona State prospect, there were observers who saw Tyson as the best wideout in this class. The Saints added inline tight end Oscar Delp on Day 2 and small-school athletic phenom Bryce Lance at wide receiver in the fourth round. With Noah Fant also signing a two-year deal for $8.8 million, coach Kellen Moore has the flexibility to go to 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TEs, 2 WRs) or even 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TEs, 1 WR) groupings this coming season if so inclined."
Saints applauded for building around Tyler Shough
Shough showed real promise as a rookie so the Saints naturally needed to continue building around him to ensure that continues. Barnwell is right that Jordyn Tyson has had injury problems but if he can stay healthy, that gives Shough a downright electrifying weapon. Oscar Delp and Bryce Lance should help out too and I haven't even mentioned that the Saints still have Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson for Shough to throw to as well.
The Saints hopefully have figured out the toughest problem for teams in the NFL, which is who their franchise quarterback is. If Shough pans out, this whole thing should work out well for them and New Orleans should be competitive for years to come, especially in the weak NFC South.
The only way the Saints can improve and get better is by building around Shough and they've done just that. Hopefully, it pays off big for them in the years to come.
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