Saints drafts Tyler Shough, not Shedeur Sanders at No. 40

After watching only Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart go in the first round, football fans the world over openly wondered who would be the first quarterback taken on Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft, Tyler Shough or Shedeur Sanders.

While some, like Mel Kiper Jr. felt very strongly about Sanders being the pick, as he was widely considered a top 2 quarterback for much of the offseason, clearly Kellen Moore and company felt elsewhere, as, with pick No. 40, Mickey Loomis rushed in the card to make the Oregon/Texas Tech/Louisville signal caller their quarterback of the future.

Now, for the eagle-eyed fan who has been keeping an eye on all of the draft festivities, the idea of Shough going off the board before Sanders was not a complete surprise, as Adam Schefter all but announced that it would happen before the opening bell of Day 2. Still, the idea of one of the most popular players in the nation, one the President was literally urging teams to select at the top of the second round, would be leap-frogged by a soon-to-be 26-year-old college journeyman who was in the same recruiting class as Brock Purdy? That is an unusual choice, to say the least.

Is Shough a perfect prospect? No, but he's tall, athletic, and widely considered the best pure passer in this year's class. He is also clearly a player Moore thinks he can win with, otherwise, he wouldn't selected Sanders, Jalen Milroe, or even pushed harder for the Saints to trade up for Dart.

Though his path to the NFL may be unconventional, no one will complain if Shough ends up quarterbacking the Saints for the next decade to the top of the NFC South standings. With the Derek Carr reign potentially over, the Shough era of Saints football will be here before fans know it.