Saints reveal feelings on Tyler Shough’s advanced age for QB draft pick

Tyler Shough was the oldest quarterback taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. In fact, he's likely the last player to ever be taken in an NFL Draft that was born before the year 2000.

The New Orleans Saints used the 40th overall pick, early in the second round, to land the Louisville quarterback.

Shough will turn 26 before the NFL season starts.

His college career began in 2018 at Oregon with a redshirt.

Shough backed up Justin Herbert in 2019, started seven games for the Ducks in 2020 and transferred to Texas Tech in 2021.

A broken collarbone kept him out until 2022, then he broke his fibula in 2023. He transferred to Louisville for 2024 and played an injury-free season.

So he's been hurt a lot, lasted in college forever and isn't exactly a spring chicken.

Saints coach Kellen Moore likes that.

"We saw it as a positive," Moore said Friday night. "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."

MORE: How Brock Purdy's extension is impacted by George Kittle deal

There is a fair counterpoint to the age argument. Shough could give the Saints a strong decade of QB play. It's not like he's 35.

"For me, in a perfect scenario, I play 10, 12 years and I'm still mid-30s and I think any team would ask for that," Shough said. "Coming into this situation, I've already seen what can happen in the NFL and I've already gone through those challenges in college, so I feel much more prepared now to come in and just play free and have fun and do everything I can to make the team better."

Shough pointed to all his experiences as a positive. 

"The support system around me with my wife and my family, I just feel a lot more equipped to come in and handle it," he said.

Shough was the third QB off the board, after Cam Ward (1.1) and Jaxson Dart (1.25).

He may be the oldest, but he's also hoping to be one of the best.

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