The New Orleans Saints want Tyler Shough to step up.

But not in the way you think.

For months, the Saints have been working on the rookie quarterback’s movement in and outside the pocket. They want him to step up, or climb, when edge rushers start to collapse the outside walls, keeping Shough safe. They want him to drift to extend plays. They want him to have a feel for when to take off and when to stay patient. All of this has been emphasized in practice, from the start of individual drills to even when Shough spent weeks running the scout team earlier in the season.

Every team hammers home footwork for quarterbacks. But the time on task has been especially crucial for Shough, the 40th overall pick who was dinged in the draft process by several analysts for having a poor reaction to oncoming pressure.

“Obviously, we drafted him high enough to think that’s not as big of an issue as maybe some people (did),” Saints quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien said. “I mean, that’s all I hear from the outside world.

“So, that’s fine. We’re just going to keep working at it.”

The Saints have been pleased with the progress.

Shough’s numbers under pressure this season haven’t been particularly impressive, but they aren’t out of the ordinary for a rookie. What has been a pleasant surprise, though, is the way that the 26-year-old has navigated the pocket, either to avoid pressure altogether by stepping up or to create something out of nothing when on the move.

Shough’s two touchdown passes in the second half of Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins illustrate the latter point. Coach Kellen Moore specifically noted Shough’s “quick ability” to find open space and hit Chris Olave on the move after the Dolphins’ rush forced him off his spot. In the fourth quarter, Shough then rolled to his right to find Devaughn Vele in the back of the end zone.

Neither play technically counted as Shough facing pressure, according to Next Gen Stats’ charting service.

But that’s a credit to Shough for moving out of the way and avoiding trouble.

“A lot of the best quarterbacks in this league play off schedule,” Moore said. “When you embrace there’s a second phase to a play, big plays happen because of it. So, while you’re always trying to fine-tune the initial intent of the play … there’s still big plays that are out there and available.”

Shough’s initial feel for the pocket was one of the hurdles for him seeing the field. During the spring and summer, the second-round pick seemed a step slow when dealing with a pass rush. Shough had to get used to the game’s speed, but while that was happening, Spencer Rattler was distancing himself in the quarterback competition, in part because of his own improvement under pressure.

Before he was benched, Rattler noticeably cut his sack rate percentage from his rookie year. In 2024, he took a sack on 8.9% of his dropbacks to 6.57% in 2025. That almost 2.5% difference meant that Rattler went from having the league’s ninth-highest sack rate to 18th among 36 qualified passers in 2025. Rattler was also very efficient under pressure, posting the league’s best completion percentage at 62.1% and the eighth-highest quarterback rating, according to Next Gen Stats.

If Rattler’s improvement at all was related in any way to working with the Saints’ coaching staff, that could be a good sign for Shough as he continues to mature.

In six games, four of which have been starts, Shough has a 51.2% completion percentage under pressure and has a sack rate of 7.8%.

“We’re coached really well to not take negative plays in the pocket,” Rattler said.

Moore has said the drills the Saints run in practice are aimed at helping with that movement. While the drills are what most quarterbacks have seen by the time they get to the league, Tolzien said he utilizes what he has learned from his seven years as an NFL quarterback and his previous coaching stop with the Dallas Cowboys.

The plan, he said, is to build muscle memory so the footwork comes naturally. He’ll run mostly the same drills every practice to keep “the main dish,” but will add new wrinkles to mix up “the sides.” Rattler said Tolzien will try to add a competitive element in certain moments to keep things fun.

“I’m a believer in that, no different from Steph Curry using the same pre-game routine for 82 games in an NBA season, there’s going to be drills that we’re going to repeat, and that’s OK because that’s how you build habits,” Tolzien said.

Shough also credited his improvement due to his time with the scout team. Each week, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley installed game-specific blitzes that gave Shough a better sense of what to expect, even when he was running the other teams’ concepts.

Shough’s second start, a win over the Carolina Panthers, showed just how comfortable the quarterback had seemingly become. He hasn’t been perfect since then — Shough’s turnovers (four interceptions and two fumbles) are another area he needs to clean up — but he’s made plenty of strides in an area that many thought would be a concern.

“On scout team, more often than not, (the pocket) is not in your favor,” Shough said. “There’s guys in your face. You’re throwing in different lanes. So I was just super intentional about two hands, trying to move up, trying to escape in different ways. … I’m going to continue to try and do that.”