METAIRIE, La. -- Tyler Shough has received multiple text messages of encouragement since the New Orleans Saints selected him with the 40th pick in April's NFL draft.
Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees offered support after Shough was drafted. Another message was from 76-year-old Archie Manning, who regularly reaches out to quarterbacks who attended the Manning Passing Academy.
Manning is one of the few people who truly understand the high expectations placed on the rookie's shoulders in New Orleans. Shough is the Saints' earliest quarterback selection since Manning was picked No. 2 out of Ole Miss in 1971.
When New Orleans opens the season Sept. 7 against the Arizona Cardinals, Shough could become the seventh rookie quarterback to start a game for the Saints, following teammate Spencer Rattler, who made his debut last season when Derek Carr was injured.
And if Shough wins the competition with Rattler and Jake Haener, he will buck convention in other ways. Shough, who turns 26 on Sept. 28, is the oldest rookie in the draft class, and he arrives in New Orleans after seven college seasons spent at three universities (Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville). He played through three major injuries (two of which ended his seasons in 2021 and 2023) and the COVID-19 pandemic.
If Shough feels the weight of NFL expectations, he doesn't show it.
He said it would be easy to compare himself to peers such as Brock Purdy, a former high school competitor in Chandler, Arizona, who is going into his fourth season with the San Francisco 49ers. The Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence and the New York Jets' Justin Fields, 2021 first-round picks, were also college freshmen at the same time as Shough, and are examples he cited as comparable quarterbacks who had early success.
"Who knows who I would be or where I would be if everything had worked out [differently]," Shough said. "It worked out the way it was supposed to because now I'm in [this] opportunity with a great team and kind of a fresh start with a new staff."
Shough, who celebrated his one-year anniversary with wife Jordan in April, said he is settled at this point in his life.
Now he just wants a chance.
"That's why I feel so, so much more ready to come into this situation and because of those previous experiences, just understanding what it looks like from a failure perspective, from having success, trying to earn the respect of your teammates and just being in a new city," he told ESPN during an exclusive interview this summer.
"It makes sense why some guys don't last that long. ... Some things are out of your control, but you've got to be prepared for change."
AFTER TWO SEASONS of backing up Justin Herbert at Oregon and one pandemic-shortened year in 2020, he entered the transfer portal in February 2021, enrolling at Texas Tech, where he dealt with significant injuries for the first time in his career.
He broke his collarbone four games into the 2021 season (missing the rest of the year), and then rebroke it in the 2022 opener. He came back for the final five games of the 2022 regular season and was named MVP of the Texas Bowl after a 42-25 win against Ole Miss.
Shough said seeing then-fiancée Jordan, who played soccer at Oregon where they met, and his family after that win was one of his best college memories.
"It was a lot of emotions because everything that [happened] ... like, 'Man, you stuck it out and you saw some good come out of it,'" Shough said.
The highs of that moment made the following year more difficult to bear. Four games into the 2023 season, Shough was carted off the field with an air cast on after a hip-drop tackle by a West Virginia defender resulted in a broken fibula.
"It was just a lot of true ups and downs to where at that point you kind of understand, 'Man, my time here is probably done at Texas Tech,'" Shough said.
Jordan said the injuries were "emotionally draining" on Shough, but he kept perspective during the healing process. Jordan said he'd show up to the middle school where she taught and coached multiple sports, often bringing her lunch and encouraging her students.
"He would show up to their games and come to their practices ... with me and just do anything and everything that he could be at, which was super special for them because he was kind of this person in this community at that point," Jordan said. "... It was cool for the 12-year-old boys to see this man that they looked up to treat women really respectfully ... come and help out and talk about how he can be goofy, and he can make fun of himself, and it's OK."
Despite the uncertainty around his football future, Shough would tell Jordan things were going to be all right. "Jordan, this is going to work out," he would say.
"It was just not even a question of, 'If I'm ever going to play football again.' He was just like, 'This is what I love, this is what I'm going to do. I know it's going to work out.' ... He just has this kind of unwavering sense of self about him that is pretty remarkable," Jordan said.
Tyler Shough airs it out for 15-yard touchdown pass
Keeping his dream alive meant considering another school and another move, and Shough wondered if he needed a backup plan. Texas Tech's then-offensive coordinator, Zach Kittley, offered to have him join the coaching staff if he was ready to give up playing.
But others told him he should enter the NFL draft immediately.
"You'll get signed or picked up. You're smart, you got a good arm, but you're too old. You're not going to increase your draft stock," Shough recalled being told by some critics.
Landry Klann, Shough's coach at QB Country, a quarterback training and development company, was among those who saw the benefits of another collegiate season.
"He was one of the guys that just believed in me," Shough said. "He was like, 'Screw that: If you don't play well or you get hurt, then you're going to be in the same situation you are now, which is fine. You'll get an opportunity, but if you play good then you're going to increase your chances.'"
Shough entered the transfer portal for the second time and signed with Louisville for his final college season. He started all 12 games for the Cardinals and set career highs for passing touchdowns (23) and passing yards (3,195) before going on to play in the Senior Bowl, participate in the NFL scouting combine and hear his name called on Day 2 of the draft.
That seventh season of college became a year of appreciation for Shough.
"I had that perspective of just gratitude to be in this position, and it kind of lit a fire underneath me," Shough said. "I want to give everything I can to the city of New Orleans and my teammates because I know what I have to offer, and I want to go out there and work my butt off."
TYLER WAS BORN into a family of sports fanatics. His parents, Dana and Glenn, both played three sports growing up; his older sisters were high school athletes; and his younger brother, Brady, played football as well.
Dana told ESPN that Tyler was "born with a ball in his hands." Tyler and Brady spent their summers playing multiple sports.
"You're working for six hours of baseball, then an hour with football, and then you want to come home and you want to do more sports," Brady told ESPN. "And so, it's just to show that he's willing to do anything and everything. ... Looking back on it now, it kind of just shows that he's really the same way now."
Tyler credits his parents for his approach on life. Dana was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in 2006 and was given a terminal diagnosis of nine months, but as of January, it'll be 20 years since her cancer diagnosis.
Tyler said the way his parents handled that challenging time taught him how to manage his own struggles later on.
"Just a lot of stuff where you feel like it's out of your control, but trusting in God and his plan for you, and I think that was really, it showed me a lot at the young age where life's going to happen, and you got to respond to it because it's going to, how you respond is going to dictate more than about your own behavior and the people around you. ... It kind of paralleled what I would go through later in my life," Tyler said.
Dana emphasized that 2006 was "probably the hardest year of our lives," but recalled a talk that she had with Tyler's father at the time -- they used their village to show their children how to handle adversity.
"I had friends and family that stepped up and helped out, and I was so appreciative. So Tyler got to see that too, that it's not just you going through it," Dana said.
"What he went through [with the injuries], his dog helped him; his wife, Jordan, helped him; his extended family; and his teammates; and the trainers. It takes a village sometimes to get through stuff, but ... I feel like I'm a better person. I feel like Tyler is a better person. As a mom, would I want him to go through all that? No. But I think it was meant to be."
By the time Tyler entered high school in 2014, those around him considered him an "old soul" beyond his years.
In his senior year at Hamilton High School, head football coach Steve Belles was removed from his position in the spring due to a hazing scandal.
Dick Baniszewski stepped in as interim coach for a season, leaning on Tyler and team leaders to get them through the fall. With the media spotlight on the team in the wake of the scandal, Baniszewski emphasized that they could not afford to make any off-the-field mistakes.
When he conveyed that sentiment, Tyler responded: "I'm with you coach, I'll make everyone understand."
"Everybody expected Hamilton to not do good that year, and we had a great season, and it was really a lot because we had a kid like Tyler who I could confide in, and he was beyond his years to be able to convey [my message] to the kids," Baniszewski said.
The team finished 8-4 and lost in the 6A quarterfinals. Tyler signed with Oregon in December following the 2017 season, enrolling that January after graduating high school in 3½ years.
Through all the adversity for Tyler and his family, Dana recalls a life lesson that still applies for her children today.
"When stuff gets tough, that's when you got to dig deep and get some grit. A fighter's mentality as we call it," Dana said.
JORDAN URGES ANYONE who will listen not to mistake Tyler's gratitude or sense of self for complacency -- he wants the Saints' No. 1 quarterback job.
"Sometimes people hear it too and they're just like, 'Oh, do you just not want it bad enough?' And it's like, 'No.' It's like we're still going to fight to the death to make this work," Jordan said. "We want this more than anything."
So far, Tyler has done all the right things.
With Jordan's encouragement, he flew to New Orleans almost as soon as the draft ended in April, intending to get to know his teammates right away. He took advice on local restaurants to eat his first meal (at Drago's Seafood Restaurant) in the city and joked to reporters that he had already popped a tire in a New Orleans pothole.
"I feel like I've got fully ingrained already," he quipped in May.
Tyler said he sees Brees as someone he'd like to emulate, a quarterback who had success but has also imprinted an indelible mark on the New Orleans community.
Tyler started working out at Tulane with several teammates prior to rookie minicamp, with injured tight end Foster Moreau working as a long-snapper. He quickly connected with tight end Juwan Johnson, a former teammate at Oregon, who he said has been like a big brother to him.
"I've lived it now with him for a few years, and I understand how important the relationships outside of the football facility are," Jordan said.
Tyler said Johnson, an undrafted rookie in 2020 who switched positions in the NFL, was also the kind of person he wanted to mold himself after.
"Once I first got here ... he set up a lot of events and invited me to come to dinner with the tight ends or going to a movie or hanging with [him and] his wife," Tyler said. "A lot of that stuff seems small, but it's really big when it comes to being around people."
Tyler also reached out to veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who approached him and a group of teammates, which included Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave, to work out in Oregon for three days during the offseason. Tyler designed the throwing scripts for the sessions, and in their downtime, everyone went to the lake.
"Obviously, it's mandatory to be together inside the building, but when you can show that brotherhood, that camaraderie outside the building, I think that shows that you care about one another," Cooks said.
TYLER KNOWS THERE are no guarantees of success in the NFL. Even with his second-round draft status, he'll have to put together consistently good days of practices to win the starting role. As the third week of camp begins, none of the quarterbacks has separated from the pack, although Shough appeared to have his best day in an intrasquad scrimmage Sunday.
"Everyone wants to be out there on Sundays as a starting quarterback in the NFL," Saints coach Kellen Moore said. "That's every quarterback's goal and dream, and that should be it. Ultimately, one's going to play."
They all have something to prove: Rattler wants his first NFL win after going 0-6 as a starter filling in for an injured Carr in a season in which coach Dennis Allen got fired. Haener wants to wipe away a disastrous start where he got pulled for Rattler in a 20-19 loss to the Washington Commanders. Wanting it won't simply be enough.
The Saints' three preseason games will go a long way to determining who is ready to be an NFL starter. And Shough said he loves the work process and the nitty-gritty of putting a game plan together.
Jordan joked that the couple has watched every YouTube video "in existence" of defensive coverages or throwing mechanics from quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
Shough to Jacobson for the TD 🙌 pic.twitter.com/DSUNshiYvP
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 3, 2025
"If you fall in love with each day of going into work and having fun with that, then usually the results are good," Tyler said. "The majority of my career. I was rehabbing and working out and game planning off the field, and I kind of fell in love with that."
And when they want to get away from football, they've immersed themselves in the community, taking their golden retriever, Murphy, who became a celebrity after making the draft-night coverage, on long walks. Jordan said their neighbors have been "amazing," bringing them food and hurricane preparation packets.
If things work out in New Orleans long term, Tyler said he'd love to find ways to give back, noting that veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan set a "very easy blueprint to follow."
Ideally, he'd love to help animals, too, Tyler said.
"Especially because seeing how much Murphy has benefited us," Tyler said. "We've talked about it. It's like if we get to a second contract or something like that, we want to open up a pet hotel or dog shelter. I don't care if it doesn't make any money or a single cent. That's really cool." He added with a smile: "Shough's Shelter or something like that."
At some point the Saints will choose from Shough, Rattler and Haener. If Shough isn't the winner this season, he won't give up anytime soon. It'll be just one more hurdle to overcome in what has already been a long journey.
"I just want to be known as a guy that worked hard and was a good dude in the locker room," he said. "I've had a lot of different hats on my head as far as a starter, a backup, an injured guy, underdog or whatever. ... I think the greatest thing that I've kind of hung my own hat on is just being a great teammate and a great person and knowing that I'm not perfect, but any way I can, just have fun and be of service to people.
"I want to have success on the field, but if you ask my teammates what they think of me, their response is what I care about, and that just comes with time and being who you are every day."