Kellen Moore: Tyler Shough was the QB for us, Shedeur Sanders was in conversation

The Saints were discussed as a possible landing spot for quarterback Shedeur Sanders leading up to the draft, but they took tackle Kelvin Banks in the first round and then selected another quarterback in the second round.

Tyler Shough was the choice in New Orleans and head coach Kellen Moore said on Friday night that the team had a lot of “good conversations” about the quarterbacks available this year when asked about the gap between Shough and others. Moore was later asked specifically about Sanders, who has not been picked yet.

“He was right in those conversations,” Moore said. “These are really tough decisions. He’s a really good player. What he accomplished at Colorado and when you watch the film, it’s really, really good. I think really highly of him. Ultimately, as you go through it, you’ve got to make a decision. We felt like Tyler was the one for us.”

Shough spent time at Oregon and Texas Tech before finishing a seven-year run in college at Louisville in 2024. He suffered several injuries over that time and Moore said his experience and his resilience were things that made him their choice.

“We saw it as a positive,” Moore said. “He’s been through a lot of football, he’s been exposed to a lot of different settings. And the quarterback position, these guys aren’t reaching their peak for a while. He’s going to continue to rise and grow. . . . There’s challenges as you go through this and those guys who can handle adversity tend to thrive in this league. . . . For him to continue to rebound from those and then play at such a high level this past year, he kind of just built momentum as we went through this whole thing.”

The Saints are still waiting for further clarity on the shoulder injury that Derek Carr is dealing with and word on that will help shape the timeline for when they might think about seeing if Shough’s extended time in college pays off in the pros.