A New Orleans Saints squad holding a 2-8 record had their bye in Week 11. The Saints went into that bye after a 17-7 win at the Carolina Panthers to break a four-game losing streak. In that game, rookie quarterback Tyler Shough got his first NFL victory. It was the first time a rookie quarterback had won a start for the Saints since Dave Wilson in 1981, an incredible span of 44 years and 677 regular season games.

New Orleans has had very few bright spots on offense this season. After 10 games, the Saints rank a woeful 30th in points scored and 26th in total yardage. Coach Kellen Moore’s specialty is 28th in rushing yards and 20th in passing production. Shough has shown some promise in just two starts, but the Saints need to see more from him and the entire unit over their last seven outings of the year. Here are the biggest standout performers from that New Orleans offense so far over those 10 games.

Kelvin Banks Jr.

It was immediately easy to see why the Saints took Banks with the ninth overall choice in the 2025 draft. The two-time All-American Texas Longhorns star was installed immediately as the starter at left tackle. He’s started all ten games, playing 99% of the offensive snaps at a high level in the process. Ignoring whatever ridiculous criteria that PFF uses to “grade” players, Banks has been the biggest standout on the Saints front line and the best player on the entire offense.

Playing a position that often squares him up with the best pass rushers in the league, Banks has more than held his own in protection. He’s done so many times in one-on-one assignments, showing excellent footwork and agility in keeping rushers off his quarterback. For some reason, the Saints don’t run behind Banks on the left side often. When they do, he’s shown incredible power off the snap and the technique to open up holes into the second level.

Taliese Fuaga

Somewhat lost in the play of rookie Banks is the play of second-year tackle Fuaga. The 14th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 draft, Fuaga had a strong rookie year at left tackle. With the selection of Banks, Fuaga moved over to right tackle. It’s a position he primarily played as an All-American with the Oregon State Beavers, but still meant that he had to adjust to a second NFL position in as many years. Nevertheless, Fuaga embraced the switch has played very well. This is in spite of dealing with knee, back, and ankle injuries that’s caused him to miss two games and practice very little in recent weeks.

Even though not as powerful as Banks, Fuaga is physical enough at the point of attack to stand his ground against power rushers and get good push off the line in the running game. Fuaga wins most of his battles with superior technique and positioning. The Saints like to run most often off their right side, where Fuaga’s skills almost make up for the liability of Cesar Ruiz. There is a lot to criticize about the personnel decisions made by the Saints over the last several years. Making back-to-back Round 1 picks of Fuaga and Banks certainly aren’t among those criticisms, as New Orleans looks like they have a strong pair of bookend tackles for years to come.

Tyler Shough

Alvin Kamara leads the Saints with 460 yards rushing, but averages only 3.6 per carry and has just 182 yards as a receiver. Chris Olave has 60 receptions on 95 targets, but has converted that into 664 yards and a disappointing 11.1 per catch with some costly drops. Juwan Johnson is on pace for the most receptions and yardage by a New Orleans tight end since the first tenure of Jimmy Graham with the franchise, but also has hurt the team with several drops and disappears for crucial stretches. Therefore, our third game ball goes to the rookie quarterback who has made just two starts in his career to date.

Shough did some nice things in his first NFL start against the Rams. He followed that with a very promising performance against the Panthers, throwing for 282 yards to set a new Saints franchise record for single-game passing yardage by a rookie. Shough showed excellent poise, moved away from pressure extremely well, and hit accurate throws to his receivers at all three levels. Is it safe to assume that he’s the answer for New Orleans at quarterback? No, not by a long shot. Shough has seven games, five against teams with losing records, to show whether quarterback is a need for this team going into the 2026 offseason.

Tyler Shough was the third quarterback chosen in last spring’s draft. At the 40th overall selection, he’s the second highest quarterback drafted in the 59-year history of the New Orleans Saints behind Archie Manning in 1971. To insure that he holds that distinction and the Saints don’t have to use a first round pick at the position in 2026, he’ll have to play well down the stretch. Shough has at least started his career with some promising things.