If Tyler Shough is sitting at home looking himself up, the New Orleans Saints quarterback could stumble across his latest form of bulletin board material. After a strong rookie year, Shough is still being listed as the worst starting quarterback in the NFC South. Like the Saints, he is poised to go from worst to first by the end of the season.
One thing that's interesting about Lou Scataglia's rankings is the NFC South has 5 quarterbacks who could start. The Atlanta Falcons will have a quarterback camp battle between Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. This list only takes a look at the top four, but there's no rule that says both players couldn't have made the list. (And we've seen Shough rank lower than both before.)
That means there's a world where Shough is the division's second worst starting quarterback in front of Penix, who didn't make the list. That's not much better. The silver lining comes in Scataglia's explanation.
Tyler Shough is a season away from the Saints having the best QB in the NFC South
Scataglia doesn't seem to be low on Shough. He just needs to see the quarterback more, and that's a fair stance to take. It's a safe stance that relies on what we've seen versus what we could see.
Shough gets his praise from the analyst. "Tyler Shough has the highest ceiling of any quarterback in the NFC South for the 2026 season, but he's played fewer than 17 games and has a very limited sample size," Scataglia wrote.
Later, he follows it up with, "For now, though, Shough is the least proven starting quarterback in the division, so it should not come as a shock that he's No. 4 in our power rankings."
It isn't the talent. It's how long we've seen the talent. Had we seen Shough for even five more games Scataglia could be singing a different tune. That's why it shouldn't be a surprise to see Shough go from worst to first at the end of the season.
The comparison of ceilings already favors Shough. As a rookie, he showed he wasn't just a traits player. Shough showed a strong arm with accuracy, mobility and quick mental processing to adapt on the fly. One could argue that should be enough to not be last, but that's neither here nor there.
If his 2026 season looks like his 2025 campaign, Shough will catapult up the list to first or second. All signs point to him doing just that.
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