Juwan Johnson

Shough was one of the most pleasant surprises from the 2025 draft class. After a couple of early cameo appearances, he took over as the Saints' starter and held the job the rest of the way, starting nine games from Week 9 through Week 18 and averaging 17.1 points per game in that stretch—good for the QB9 overall and QB12 on a per-game basis. That's starter-quality production from a rookie quarterback who most people didn't even have pegged as a 2025 contributor. His accuracy was encouraging—64th percentile in CPOE—though the overall EPA per dropback (33rd percentile) lagged behind, likely a function of the Saints' limited receiving corps rather than Shough himself, but it’s something to monitor. He also showed enough as a runner to matter in fantasy, averaging 21.9 rushing yards per start with three rushing touchdowns in nine starts. The Saints addressed the biggest hole in the offense by adding Jordyn Tyson to pair with Chris Olave, giving Shough two legitimate perimeter weapons for the first time (once Tyson returns from a serious hamstring injury). Juwan Johnson returns at tight end. It's Year 2 with Kellen Moore calling the plays, and that continuity matters for a young quarterback still learning the nuances of an NFL offense. He's going off the board as a mid- to low-QB2, and while there's real risk that his rookie-year production was the ceiling rather than the floor, the arrow is pointing up. If Tyson and Olave can get/stay healthy and give Shough consistent targets on the outside, he has the accuracy and the rushing ability to push into low-end QB1 territory. He's a fine QB2 with sneaky upside at his current price.