Louis Riddick understands where Saints fans are coming from.
He knows you might be skeptical about , the quarterback the Saints picked in the second round of the NFL draft, and that you might be dubious about his age (25) and extensive injury history.
His advice: Free your mind and the rest will follow.
“Tyler has been put into a lot of boxes,” Riddick said. "Saints fans need to give him a chance. Once they learn a little bit about him, they're going to be super, super impressed. This kid’s a damn good quarterback with some serious, serious skills.”
Riddick understands the skeptics because he was one, too.
The veteran ESPN analyst didn’t know much about Shough before the 2024 college football season. Shough wasn’t a household name and had spent six years in college after transferring from previous stops at Oregon and Texas Tech. Riddick’s expectations were understandably low when he was assigned a few Louisville games as an ESPN color analyst last season.
Riddick and Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm had a connection as former teammates with the XFL's Orlando Rage in 2001. Riddick believes Brohm and his brother, Brian, the Cardinals' offensive coordinator, are among the best quarterback evaluators and developers in the game. He trusted their opinions. And what he heard from the Brohms and others at practice and during production meetings about Shough leading up to the game opened his eyes.
“Everyone I talked to about Tyler — coaches, teammates, people in the football department — it was just A-pluses across the board,” Riddick said.
Then Riddick saw Shough play in ACC showdowns against SMU, Miami and Clemson.
“He was lights-out every time,” Riddick said.
Ditto Shough’s workouts at the Senior Bowl and the NFL scouting combine, where he tested off the charts with a 4.6 time in the 40-yard dash, and impressed teams with his maturity and football acumen in interviews.
“It was just one thing after another that really stacked up for me,” Riddick said.
By the time the NFL draft rolled around, Riddick was captaining the Shough bandwagon. He told anyone who would listen that Shough was the biggest sleeper in the draft, that he would be selected higher than everyone expected.
"Remember the name," Riddick said repeatedly, as ESPN producers played a mashup of his on-air touts about Shough's prospects.
Ask Riddick what he likes about Shough, and he launches into an impassioned soliloquy about his prototypical size (6-foot-5, 219 pounds), athleticism and passing skills.
“What's not to like?" he said. "He has big hands — almost 10-inch hands — a 32-inch vertical jump and ran 4.6 at the combine. He has good vision down the field and in the pocket. He understands pro-style concepts and has the intellect and football intelligence to run a lot of different offenses. Jeff gave him a ton of responsibility on the football field (to make checks and get in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage). He produced all of the things Jeff expects him to execute in that offense.”
Riddick didn’t stop there. He was just getting started.
“Throw for throw, he might be the most talented passer in the draft,” Riddick said. “He can throw from different arm slots, throw with touch and throw with horsepower. He can layer the ball down the field and throw it deep. And he’s mobile. He has the ability to move outside the pocket and can take off and run with it.”
It's important to note Riddick’s credentials. He played in the NFL for six years and was a scout and personnel director with the Philadelphia Eagles. He is so highly regarded that multiple NFL teams have interviewed him for their general manager positions. His opinion is an informed one.
Riddick touted C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels in the 2023 and 2024 NFL drafts, and he was one of the few analysts high on Bo Nix as a first-rounder a year ago.
In many ways, Riddick believes Shough is fighting some of the same criticisms Nix did a year ago as an older prospect. The Broncos’ first-rounder led Denver to its first playoff appearance in seven years and finished third in the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.
“There are a lot of stereotypes attached to this guy (Shough),” Riddick said. “He’s being unfairly judged by some people who, quite frankly, are using surface-level, amateur evaluation metrics.”
Riddick went down the list:
Shough’s injury history, which includes two broken collarbones and a fractured fibula in his leg.
“His injuries were freak-type injuries, the kind that could happen to any quarterback,” Riddick said. “This is not some brittle, injury-prone quarterback that is going to crumble to dust the first time he gets hit, and you have a wasted draft pick.”
Likewise, Riddick believes Shough’s age (25) has been overblown.
“He’s older,” Riddick said. “Who cares? It doesn’t matter. Quarterbacks play into their 30s. He’s going to be a two-contract quarterback in the NFL. If this kid plays a decade in New Orleans, and they’re successful, does anybody give a (expletive) that he started off his NFL career at 25?”
If anything, Riddick believes Shough’s experience will be an advantage for him and the Saints.
“He has a blueprint for dealing with adversity,” Riddick said. “This kid has been knocked down. What he’s been through would have broken a lot of people. For him, it didn't. It hardened and calloused him. The Saints know they’ve got a guy who is going to respond the right way when adversity hits. They already know what he’s made of.”
While Riddick is as bullish on Shough as any quarterback he's evaluated, he cautions that he doesn’t know how he will fare as a rookie. The transition to the NFL is difficult for all draft prospects, but it’s especially steep for quarterbacks. Riddick was convinced Trey Lance and Dwayne Haskins would be good NFL quarterbacks, and neither panned out.
In that regard, Riddick thinks Shough’s maturity will suit him well when the inevitable adversity hits during his rookie NFL season. He also sees him as a perfect match for Kellen Moore, the cerebral first-year head coach for the Saints and a former quarterback whose fingerprints, Riddick said, "are all over this pick."
“I’m really pulling for the guy and interested to see how it plays out,” Riddick said. “I know the kid is super, super determined to prove right the people that supported and believed in him. I think he’s going to surprise the entire NFL.”