Kellen Moore Officially Names Saints' Starting QB for Remainder of 2025 Season

The Week 9 matchup vs. the Rams will see a new Saints quarterback starting.
The Saints named Tyler Shough as the starting quarterback for the rest of the season.
The Saints named Tyler Shough as the starting quarterback for the rest of the season. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
In this story:

On Tuesday, the Saints announced that quarterback Tyler Shough would start over Spencer Rattler in Week 9 against the Rams after a 1–7 start to the season, tied for the worst record in the NFL.

New Orleans coach Kellen Moore confirmed the quarterback change on Wednesday and shared that Shough is expected to be the starter for the remainder of the 2025 season. Rattler has officially been benched for the rest of the year, based on the Saints' plan.

Despite Shough being a rookie, Moore is excited to see how the quarterback performs moving forward.

“Really excited about this opportunity for him,” Moore said. “He’s been preparing each and every week just as he would be if he was the starter so I feel like he’s ready to go. There will be a lot of exciting opportunities for him. It will be his first experience starting and going through that full process. Obviously, there’s an element with that you gotta kinda navigate as you go.”

Shough spoke to media on Wednesday, too, expressing his excitement to earn the starting role, while also acknowledging there's a lot of work left to do.

"It was a great feeling, but knowing that there's a lot of work to be done," Shough said. "I think it's just complimentary of the work that I've done behind the scenes. ... It was a good feeling, but in the same boat, we’ve got a lot of work to do. That's my mindset."

There's always a chance the Saints will switch up the quarterback situation again before the season's over, but for now, Shough will lead the team.


More NFL on Sports Illustrated

FREE NEWSLETTER. SI BTN Newsletter. Start off your day with SI:CYMI. dark

feed


Published
Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.