Carr surprisingly has called it quits<\/a>, Shough moves closer to the front of the line to grab the keys to the Kellen Moore offense. Opportunity sometimes knocks fast in the NFL, and for Shough it comes just 15 days after the Saints drafted him in the second round.\u00a0<\/p>\nThis was the third straight year the Saints drafted a quarterback after selecting Jake Haener in the fourth round two years ago and Spencer Rattler in the fifth round last year. That trio will battle in training camp for the starting job with the hopes of bringing some stability to a position that hasn\u2019t had any since Drew Brees retired.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be very patient with it and make sure all these guys get to compete at a really high level,\u201d Moore said Saturday after the team\u2019s rookie minicamp.<\/p>\n
Whichever quarterback wins the job, this feels like a clean slate for the Saints. For the first time since 2006, the Saints will start a season with both a new head coach and a new quarterback. That season \u2014 the arrival of Sean Payton and Brees \u2014 turned out to be a special one. It set the groundwork for all the expectations that have surrounded the organization ever since.<\/p>\n
While Moore says there will be a competition, you have to think Shough is the favorite. Moore saw enough in Shough to use a high second-round pick on him. He got his guy, just like Payton got his 19 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shough will turn 26 in September, just a year younger than a then-27-year-old Brees was when he came to rescue New Orleans.<\/p>\n
Nobody knew how good Brees would be, much like nobody knows how good Shough will be. Time will tell.<\/p>\n
Shough’s arm talent was evident in Saturday\u2019s practice when he completed his first seven passes before finally throwing an incompletion. Many of those throws were darts. But it’s way too early to read anything into it.<\/p>\n
This was just in 7-on-7 drills competing against rookies. No pads. No tackling. No pass rush. And no high stakes.<\/p>\n
The real competition comes in training camp when guys such as Chase Young and Demario Davis are running toward Shough while Rattler and Haener are looking over his shoulder trying to win the same job.<\/p>\n
Even in limited work Saturday, Moore liked what he saw in Shough.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor these quarterbacks, a lot of times really what you care about is how they command the huddle and command the whole operation,\u201d Moore said. \u201cNew system, new language and all those things associated with it. Tyler has hopped in and done a good job of coming in here and taking control of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When addressing the media after practice, Shough was just as poised and polished.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing I want to continue to do is play free,\u201d Shough said. \u201cA lot of things you can\u2019t control. But you can control your preparation, your attitude and your effort. That\u2019s one thing I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moore informed Shough about Carr\u2019s retirement right before Saturday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever is on the roster, I\u2019ve got to continue to grow and get better and do my best to elevate the quarterback room,\u201d Shough said. \u201cI was going to come in regardless, him being here or not, and continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, Shough organized a throwing session at Tulane with teammates such as tight end Juwan Johnson and receiver Bub Means.<\/p>\n
His teammates have noticed the maturity already.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a leadership mentality, and he\u2019s going about it in a professional way,\u201d said running back Devin Neal, the Saints\u2019 sixth-round draft pick.<\/p>\n
Shough is just two weeks on the job and he knows there\u2019s a long way to go. He’s learning his new job and learning a new city that is ready to embrace him if he wins the job.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s eaten charbroiled oysters and fleur-de-lis shrimp from Drago\u2019s. He’s already felt just how brutal the south Louisiana humidity can be. (Trust me, Tyler. You ain’t seen nothing yet.) And he’s received advice about the city from former punter Thomas Morstead, whose No. 6 jersey Shough will don.<\/p>\n
And oh yeah, he\u2019s already had his official \u201cwelcome to New Orleans\u201d moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m already engrained in New Orleans because I’ve already popped a tire in a pothole,\u201d Shough said.<\/p>\n
Potholes and humidity aside, he’s seen the positives, too. He’s already got a feel for just what the Saints mean around here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI resonate with it completely,\u201d Shough said. \u201cThat\u2019s kinda what I want to play with is that passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
That passion will win fans over if Shough can win games. But before he wins games, he first has to win the starting job.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Carr\u2019s retirement<\/a>, he is one step closer.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve got so much work to do,\u201d Shough said. \u201cI\u2019m a rookie coming in, and I\u2019ve got to earn my keep.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyler Shough\u2019s road to becoming a starting quarterback has all of sudden become a lot smoother than the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,4095,896,55,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-46107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-hardwall","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114499159706440656","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}