Kellen Moore Shuts Down Tyler Shough Concern With Phillip Rivers Joke

When Tyler Shough was coming out of college, one of the biggest question marks around him was his age -- and more so how long he spent in college.

Shough isn't your typical quarterback prospect. The New Orleans Saints rookie spent seven seasons in college with three different teams: Oregon, Texas Tech, and Louisville. Throughout his college career, he was a backup, a starter, and dealt with multiple season-ending injuries. This kid went through it before even stepping on an NFL field.

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Now, he's the starter for New Orleans and has looked the part over the last few weeks. While most rookie quarterbacks may be 22 or 23 years old, Shough is 26 years old.

Saints head coach Kellen Moore was asked about Shough's age and if there was any concern there and he had a perfect response, while citing the Indianapolis Colts' newly-signed quarterback Phillip Rivers.

The Saints rookie has looked good recently

Dec 7, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) throws downfield during the second quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

"Phillip's playing, at some point, at 44 (years old) potentially, so I think we have a few more years," Moore said, as seen in a clip shared to X by NewOrleans.Football.

Moore continued from there digging into why he has no concern about Shough's age.

"Tons of experience, tons of exposure," Moore continued. "You can go through a lot of historical references throughout all of college football going into the NFL and guys that played a lot of football in college football, positively and in challenging situations, guys that played a bunch of years and a bunch of experience, those are the guys that are able to handle it. He hasn't played in perfect environments where you win every game and you've got all these guys around you that provide you with that.

"He's navigated a bunch of stuff and so I thought that was great. Quarterbacks in this league, I think there's a maturing that goes much further than maybe other positions, because there's such a mental component to it. You look at a lot of these quarterbacks that are playing as good as anyone in this league, a bunch of them are all in their 30s. (Matthew Stafford) is late-30s, the Dak's of the world are in their early-30s, they're still getting better."

At the end of the day, Shough has looked very good as the Saints' starter, regardless of age. It's a fair question, but not one of concern right now.

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