Let’s get this out of the way. Tyler Shough’s presence wasn’t going to keep the New Orleans Saints from drafting a quarterback next year, and that was true before they guaranteed the fourth year of his contract. It’s still true now. If the Saints are bad enough in 2025 to where they can draft a talented QB prospect in 2026, it doesn’t matter that Shough is under contract through 2028.
Not too long ago, Teddy Bridgewater was signed to back up Drew Brees on a one-year deal valued at $7.25 million. This year they have a dead money cap hit for Jameis Winston at $7.36 million, and he’s on his second team in two years since leaving New Orleans. The Saints are paying Shough a little more than $10.79 million over four years to potentially start for them. If he can’t cut the mustard and ends up being more of a bridge to their next QB, that’s easy money to accept for a backup. With the NFL salary cap projected to climb up from $279.2 million this year to $295.5 million in 2026 and $311 million in 2027, there’s no scenario where the Saints miss out on another player because of what they owe Shough.
And those numbers won’t keep the Saints from drafting a quarterback they feel can give them a better chance to win. Let’s say they’re historically bad and only win two games this season (which, by the way, would be only the second time that’s happened since the schedule expanded to 17 games). Shough’s poor performance would be a big reason they were bad. It doesn’t matter if his cap hit next season is more than $2 million. If they have a chance to draft a young gun like Cade Klubnik or Garrett Nussmeier or LaNorris Sellers (or someone else who fits the bill), they should take it. That’s small potatoes to pay Shough to hold a clipboard and help out in the film room.
Like it or not, a lot of this was out of the Saints’ hands. Shough’s agent did a good job remaining patient and not agreeing to sign anything until the players drafted in front of and behind his client already signed their deals. That meant, at minimum, Shough was going to get 95% of his contract guaranteed (like T.J. Sanders, drafted at No. 39). At most, and as it turned out to be the case, he was going to get a fully guaranteed deal (like Luther Burden III, the 41st pick). There was nothing the Saints could do to pressure Shough into signing sooner before the market set the rate for him. Would those critics have been happier if Shough was only guaranteed 97% instead of 100%? That’s a difference of about $300,000 to be paid in 2028. If the cap keeps rising like it has, it might hit $326.9 million by then. Are we really going to complain about 0.000092% of the salary cap four seasons from now?
So don’t overreact to this. Hopefully the Saints will surprise some people, win eight or nine games this year, and Shough looks more like part of the solution than part of the problem. If he falls short? It’s far from the end of the world for New Orleans.
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