Saints QB Shuffle: Is Tyler Shough QB of the Future? | Will Spencer Rattler Get Second Chance?

Saints QB Shuffle: Is Tyler Shough QB of the Future? | Will Spencer Rattler Get Second Chance?

after you. Yeah, going into the game like in those circumstances, I thought operated operated well. Um, you know, we just got to keep u you know, try and find ways to execute at a higher level from an offensive perspective. And so, um, I thought his his personal operation I thought was pretty clean. Kell Moore talking about Tyler Shuck, who saw his first extensive action when he replaced Spencer Rattler in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Bucks. And now Tyler Shuck is going to get the first start of his career Sunday in Los Angeles against the Rams. Ross Jackson, Louisiana Sports.net and the Locked on Saints podcast. Good enough to hang out with us here for a few minutes. Yo man, how are you? Hey man, doing great. Thanks for having me on, of course. Okay. Uh reaction. Yeah, I mean I think this is kind of what we expected after the benching took place. I feel like every time that I say the benching, I feel like I’m talking about some kind of like big moment. But really just like in this moment when it came to, you know, Kell Moore who hadn’t had been such a kind of process driven, processoriented guy and then all of a sudden like pulling a starting quarterback in the third quarter and and putting the rookie out there, that felt very much like that was the decision right there. And even though after the game Kell Moore said, you know, we’re going to take some time to think about it, kind of figure this thing out, and then see where they’re going to go. he wanted to give 48 hours, all these other pieces, it still very much felt like this was going to be the course. I think I wrote at Louisiana Sports.net that night that, you know, the decision was effectively already made, right? When you have a head coach that talked about not wanting to flip-flop at quarterback, everything, it didn’t make sense to then turn around and flip-flop at quarterback. And he was pretty clear, Kellmore was about why he made the decision to pull Spencer Rattler and what he was looking for in his offense. And I think that with all those things taken into consideration, it felt very much like this was the move that we all expected. What were those reasons that he made to pull Spencer Rattler at the moment he did? Yeah, he made a couple of different remarks about turnovers, of course, being a big part of it. Obviously, that the team had gone from taking care of the ball really well to turning the ball over nine times in the last three games, eight times in the last four. Um, we also saw he also mentioned about how he wanted to see more explosiveness in the offense. he had specifically made the decision to change quarterbacks because he wanted to give what he called a spark to the offense. And it feels like there’s a lot of different things you can do before swapping out quarterbacks to provide that spark to your offense. And so I had asked him about that on Monday and he said that they did try a bunch of different things and before effectively making before finally rather making that decision at quarterback. And so all those things just kind of pile up to let you know not just what the Saints and what Kell Moore is hoping to get out of Tyler Chuck, but clearly what it was that they felt that they were missing in Spencer Rattler. And so all of those things pile up uh after, you know, a one and seven start uh for the young quarterback and he had effectively moved out of the conversation of the guy that’s not losing you games to the guy that was committing turnovers and losing efforts, which is going to be looked at as the guy that’s losing you games. So, I think for all those reasons, those were all different packages or different pieces in our conversations that tell him more about why he made the switch. Ross, I’m ask your opinion based on what you’ve seen and then what you know, do you think Spencer Rattler’s opportunity to be the Saints starting quarterback is done? I don’t think it’s done as long as I I don’t think it’s done unless Tyler Shuck performs well, right? Like I’m not going to say that it’s done because if Tyler Shuck goes out there and you know either isn’t able to be out on the field or doesn’t perform well then I think you end up going back to Spencer Rattler and he would be the guy that you’d go back to at a later point in the season and then he would get another opportunity. So I I don’t think that the job is done but it’s solely now in the hands of Tyler Shuck. If Tyler stays on the field and if Talchuk performs well while on the field, it’s not going to be a big task for him to keep the job here over the course of these next nine games, thereby giving the Saints the opportunity to have eight starting games of evaluation on Spencer Rattler from this season, right? Six from last season as well, but but eight from this this year and then nine on Tyler Shuck throughout the rest of the season. I think the Saints want that. And so unless Tyler Shuck doesn’t seize this opportunity one way or another um or you know as soon as he doesn’t then I think that there there is an opportunity again for Spencer Rattler to potentially get out there. Ross has a piece up at louisianaapasports.net right now if you want to read it. It’s Tyler Shuck’s path to becoming the Saints 2026 starter. That’s of course free always over at louisianaapasports.net. Okay. Well, let’s talk about Shuck. Uh you got to see him for about a quarter and a half on Sunday. What was your opinion? Yeah, I thought that he was a guy that like in that moment getting thrown in in the second half there and uh in that game, he was a guy that was trying to keep his head above water is kind of what he felt like to me. I think you still saw the same, you know, similar kinds of pressure and things like that that he was under, although he faced less pressure than Spencer Rattler did. Uh but then you also saw an offense that, you know, still went 17 of 30 uh with him at the helm. Now, it’s very different when a quarterback steps in and plays in the second half of the game and then also has versus when they actually get an opportunity to prepare and be the starter. But I I didn’t see a ton uh when it came to that quarter and a half, if you will. There were a couple of really nice throws though, some good ball placement things that I think if he gets more comfortable with guys like Chris Olive, Rashid Jahed, Brandon Cooks or whatever’s left of that trio with a trade deadline on the way like whatever receiving course he has, if he builds more sort of calibration with them in terms of understanding their speed, where they like the ball, all those other things that some of that stuff will come. Uh, but it’s going to have to fall into place quickly. It didn’t uh on Sunday up against Tampa. I right now I if if the performance that we saw from Tyler Shuck on Sunday is the performance that we see from him for the next nine weeks, I don’t think the Saints really moved the needle at all and are probably back in the quarterback conversation this offseason. But it’s it would be unfair of me to kind of kind of transplant that onto his future projection now that he’s going to get the opportunity to practice and be with that actual first team, that team that he’ll actually uh be working with on the field. So, we’ll see if he’s able to improve from that, but that starting play certainly gives uh a baseline that’s yearning for improvement for sure. Just to be clear, do do you think Chuck is the starter for the remainder of the season? I think he has the opportunity to be there. I mean, he’s going to be the starter this weekend. I don’t think that based on anything that Kevin Moore has said, uh, basically, you know, he’s talked all season about not wanting to flip-flop at quarterback. Yeah. And so, if they can stay with Tyler Shuck, then I think he’s safe. Now, he’s going to have to earn that, right? He’s going to have to play well and earn the opportunity to be out there each week. But I do think that that would be the ideal situation for New Orleans from their vantage point is that he is the starter throughout the rest of the year. Is the offense any different with Shuck as opposed to Rattler? It would be if it is, it’s because Shuck is taking more risks than maybe Rattler did uh during his time. I think the play calling that we’ve seen between the two is consistent. Uh there we’ve heard some stuff about, you know, uh there’s been criticism lobbied about, you know, well, open up the playbook for Spencer. The playbook’s open, man. Like they’re they’re they everything’s there. Uh but I think that the big thing is who takes advantage of what. And so if Tyler Shuck goes out there and understands this is his opportunity, right? He’s got nine games at max to prove that he can be the guy in 2026. Otherwise, they’re probably drafting somebody else. He should go out there and attack. He should go out there and play risky. He should go out there and and be aggressive. Uh that’s one of the things that that Kellen Moore said he wants in the offense is for it to be more aggressive to be to find more of those explosive plays. And so if it does look different then I think that it comes down to Tyler Shuck taking advantage of more opportunities downfield than Spencer Rather did. So you’ll get a little bit of an immediate comparison there if that happens. The other thing that I would expect is uh then the Saints just have to get this figured out anyway, but they’ve got to fall back into their run game and get that going again in order to be able to support the young quarterback. M um how much is that possible this week on the road against the Rams? No Kendrey Miller, no Eric McCoy, obviously all the issues they’ve had. Yeah, very very challenging. All of it’s going to be very challenging. This this is not going to be easy on Tyler Shuck, right? He’s got six of his last nine games are going to be on the road. He’s got division opponents for the majority of those games as well. uh and he’s got a couple of tough opponents coming up in the Rams and then eventually when that team travels to Tampa to take on the Bucks again, he’ll see that defense for a second time or a first and a half ton uh if you want to give a little bit of grace there. So, I I think it’s going to be challenging. Uh but it’s going to come down to the play calling. I mean, the Saints ran I think it was just five times in the first half or five times in the first quarter uh up against Stanford Buccaneers and you’re not going to be able to do that. The Alvin Camra I think didn’t run at all in the second quarter once and so you can’t do that right there. There’s a big difference between your run game not working and you not leaning on your run game and you not calling run plays. Those two are are very different. The other thing I’ll be interested to seeing is, you know, the Saints sometimes call those RPOS’s and so those run plays turn into passing plays. I’m curious if Tyler Shuck’s decision decision making keeps that ball on the ground a little bit more than Spencer. Uh last thing for you, Ross. Um one week from today, almost to the hour is uh is the trade deadline. if you would provide an update for us on uh what we might expect in the next seven days. Yeah, the most popular names right now are uh the couple wide receivers in Rasheed Shahed as well as Brandon Cooks. Those are guys that could potentially get moved. There’s a lot of conversation uh about how, you know, Brandon Cooks and that move could be a mutual one. He kind of signed here in New Orleans with different, you know, with a different expectation of what this team was going to be. It was a Derek Carr led team that was still looking to compete, all these other things. That’s very much not who the Saints are right now. And so is there an opportunity to get that veteran somewhere? By the way, trading Brandon Cooks would make him the most traded player in the NFL. Uh in NFL history, uh in his past, fifth time be the fifth time that he’d be traded. Right now, he’s tied with Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson and not Hall of Famer Kiko Alonzo. Okay, those are the those are the two people that he’s kind of wrapped up with there. Uh so that would that would put him up above there. Um there are a couple other guys on the defensive side that could potentially get moved, too. I mean, you’re looking at some younger but still veteran players like Isaac Yadam, um, as well as Pete Warner and a couple others. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the edge rushers get a little bit of interest as well. But right now, it feels like those wide receivers, which success are kind of the two that everybody should be most focused on. Louisiana Sports.net and the Locked OnSaints podcast, wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube, he is Ross Jackson. Thank you, man. Thank you, buddy. Talk to you soon. Hey, thanks so much for watching. Please leave your comments. I love to interact. And be sure to hit the red subscribe button below. [Music] After further with you must further with you.

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The New Orleans Saints have officially turned to rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, who will make his first career start this Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. Matt Moscona is joined by Ross Jackson (Louisiana SportsNet / Locked On Saints) to break down why Kellen Moore benched Spencer Rattler, what Shough brings to the offense, and whether this could mark a turning point for New Orleans’ struggling unit.

Ross explains what led to the QB switch — turnovers, lack of explosiveness, and the search for a “spark” — plus how the Saints plan to evaluate Shough over the next nine games before deciding on their 2025 draft direction.

They also dive into what’s next for the Saints offense, the role of the running game with Alvin Kamara, and how injuries and a tough road stretch could challenge Shough’s development.

Finally, Ross shares the latest trade deadline updates, including buzz around Brandin Cooks, Rashid Shaheed, and potential defensive moves as the Saints look toward the future.

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