The New Orleans Saints used some premium capital on the quarterback position during the 2025 NFL Draft.
Taking 26-year-old rookie Tyler Shough was a bold move by the organization while it deals with the Derek Carr drama amid the veteran's shoulder injury.
Shough will have a chance to compete for the backup role right away and potentially the starting role if Carr is set to miss time.
With that said, it's unlikely Shough is the long-term answer under center simply given his injury history, the history of older quarterback prospects entering the league and the hit rate on second-round quarterbacks.
Thus, ESPN's Jordan Reid believes the Saints will use the No. 8 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to land a potential franchise quarterback in Penn State's Drew Allar.
"Allar took a big step as a junior in 2024, throwing for 3,327 passing yards and 24 touchdowns with 8 interceptions. He has prototypical size (6-5, 238 pounds) and every raw tool a coach could want. He's known for his strong arm but still needs to work on his ball placement and progressions; his completion rate increase from 60% in 2023 to 66.5% in 2024 bodes well. Allar should be in the first-round conversation if he continues his upward trajectory," Reid wrote.
The Saints continue to find themselves in a financial quandary for the future, and it didn't help that they compounded that issue with a bunch of restructures this offseason.
If New Orleans fails to make the playoffs again in 2025, which would mark the fifth consecutive season, it would be shocking if they again avoided the rebuild phase.
Regardless, the Saints are likely to be in the conversation to draft a quarterback next offseason so it will be interesting to see where it all stands once the upcoming campaign gets under way.