Saints Get 'Good News' Amid Tyler Shough Holdout Situation

Will Shough be at the start of training camp?

Mar 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough (QB14) during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

A holdout situation involving New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough is seeing movement.

After weeks of delays, with only 30 of 32 second-rounders signed due to groundbreaking fully guaranteed contracts from the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns, another deal has been finalized. 

“The next big domino in the second round has fallen: 49ers’ second-round pick Alfred Collins, the No. 43rd overall selection, reached agreement tonight on a four-year, $10.3 million deal that includes over $9 million guaranteed and now is expected to trigger multiple second-round signings, per sources,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday. “Collins will have 88 percent of his deal guaranteed, a huge jump over last year’s No. 43 overall pick.”

The Collins deal sets a benchmark for the Saints and Shough, the No. 40 overall selection from the 2025 NFL draft. The Saints now face two paths: offer Shough a fully guaranteed contract or scale his guarantees based on Collins’ deal.

LouisianaSports.Net’s Ross Jackson provided further analysis on the situation on Thursday.

“If the Saints want, they could just give Shough a guaranteed deal,” Jackson wrote. “At this point, any haggling would be fine over about $1 million. Is that worth missing out on possible development for the passer?”

However, there are still second-round draft picks between Collins and Shough to watch for in ongoing negotiations, as Jackson noted.

“If someone between picks No. 35 and 39 (all currently unsigned) take a deal that’s not fully guaranteed … the Saints would have a reason to knock back (Shough’s number),” Jackson continued. “However, they could simply scale Shough’s deal relative to Collins’s increase. … Either way, the good news here is that the Saints and Shough’s team now have three figures within which to work that are all relatively close to one another. That should help to speed the process along once Shough reports for camp on Tuesday, July 22.”

Many Saints fans feared that Shough would miss a big chunk of training camp, complicating his chances to earn the starting job. That outcome suddenly seems less likely.

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