If nothing else can be said about Tyler Shough, definitively state that the New Orleans Saints' second-round pick (No. 40 overall) in 2025 appreciates the opportunity ahead, because he has left a heaping portion of adversity behind.

Shough, the Saints' highest-drafted quarterback since Archie Manning was the No. 2 overall pick in 1971, redshirted as a freshman at Oregon in 2018. He was the backup to Justin Herbert in '19, started seven games in the Covid 2020 season, transferred to Texas Tech in 2021 and broke his collarbone in week 4, played seven games in an injury-interrupted 2022, broke his fibula in week 4 of 2023, transferred to Louisville for 2024 and logged his only injury-free, uninterrupted year of college football.

The Saints have a 25-year-old rookie quarterback (26 on Sept. 28), but a man who has seen and experienced as much as some seasoned NFL veterans.

Saints Coach Kellen Moore said Shough's age was a discussion point.

"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."

"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.

"I think when you're a younger guy – like 21, 22 – you don't necessarily know what you don't know and there's some growing pains. The support system around me with my wife and my family, I just feel a lot more equipped to come in and handle it."

The season-ending injuries gave him perspective.

"You didn't think maybe it was possible when you're getting carted off the field, but you kind of have that self-belief and support around you," he said. "I was just happy to be in that moment and go to an organization and team that believes in you and I'm ready to go compete.

"It's been a long one but for me, it's only made me stronger. I've had the bone breaks and it hasn't affected me physically and it strengthened me mentally. I feel so prepared to come into New Orleans and continue to learn, continue to grow, compete and at this point I'm ready for this opportunity and excited to get there."

"I think all quarterbacks go through adversity," Moore said. "There's challenges as you go through this and those guys who can handle adversity tend to thrive in this league. Tyler certainly has dealt with some. 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."

Shough – 6 feet 5, 219 pounds – completed 244 of 389 passes 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns, with six interceptions in 12 starts last season at Louisville. In 42 games and 32 starts covering seven seasons and three programs, he totaled 7,820 passings on 599 completions in 951 attempts, with 59 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, and he ran for 11 touchdowns and 733 yards on 246 carries.

He said finally putting together a healthy season was pivotal.

"It was huge, just to be in that style of offense under (Louisville) Coach (Jeff) Brohm," Shough said. "You're running pro-style concepts, having a lot more control of everything.

"Having a full season where you have to manage the ebbs and flows. I've obviously been around and seen a lot of ball and started a lot of games, but having a full season and being able to showcase what I can do was my main goal, and I'm just happy to be here in this moment and I want to continue to do that."

For Shough, joining the Saints will put him under the tutelage of another head coach who played the position, Moore. Shough's college coach, Brohm, also played quarterback and with the Saints he'll have offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien, too, who played quarterback.

"I think everywhere Coach Moore has been there's been greatness from the quarterback position," Shough said. "I think he's a guru when it comes to that and I'm just so excited to continue to work with him.

"I feel like this is the only team in the NFL where you've got that QB coach, the (offensive coordinator) and the head coach are all quarterback guys. So there's an incredible opportunity to come in and learn from them."

Shough said he's a high-level processor, and a mobile quarterback with size.

"But I think for me, my biggest thing where I've been able to have success is being able to win pre-snap and make up for it post-snap if it's off the right look," he said. "I'm going to continue to try to play free and continue to grow and continue to get better. Every year of my career I feel like I've learned so much and gotten better. That's my goal right now, is to continue to climb."

The climb began in earnest under Brohm, and achieved its latest high point Friday, complete with the opportunity to learn under Moore.

Already, Shough has been impressed by his new head coach.

"We talked in depth about my responsibilities at the line of scrimmage at Louisville," he said. "How I kind of see the game, what we did in the past in multiple different offenses from an Air Raid perspective, from a pro-style perspective.

"There's always good and bad tape. Every person has these things that he called 'growth opportunities.' That was one of my favorite visits because you're going to have to talk about bad plays and bad plays are going to happen.

"And you're going to have good ones but whenever those bad plays come, how do you analyze it. And he never used it as a negative, he used it as an opportunity to grow and it was fixable and I really loved that perspective from him, because he understands the position is all analytical and you can grow every single snap and play."