The Carolina Panthers are far from a contending team ahead of what should be another up-and-down 2025 season, but they can take solace in the fact that Bryce Young and Dave Canales will be good enough to help them avoid the title of Worst NFC South Team. The New Orleans Saints are running away with that title.
The Saints stunningly used the No. 40 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough, a rookie who will turn 26 in September and was widely thought to have overdrafted. Rather than being handed the starting quarterback job, Shough was unable to beat out Dennis Allen holdover Spencer Rattler.
The Saints have officially decided that Rattler, not Shough, will enter the season as the Week 1 starting quarterback. Head coach Kellen Moore said that Shough will continue to "develop" as the backup, which is a hilarious statement about a player who was picked high based on his ability to jump right into an NFL offense.
The NFC South does collectively regard New Orleans as much of a threat in 2025, and the decision to let Rattler take the early parts of the schedule after a fairly anonymous start to life in the NFL suggests that the Panthers are once again in a much better position than their old division rivals.
Panthers fans can laugh at Saints after starting Spencer Rattler over Tyler Shough
The whole point of taking someone like Shough is to play him immediately, as he doesn't have the developmental upside that many younger prospects do. With this move, the Saints will let someone who came from the same recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields (who are in Year 5) rot on the bench.
To make things even funnier for Panthers fans, the Saints are likely going to be so bad this season that they end up with one of the top picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. New Orleans will almost assuredly be in line to pick another quarterback high in next year's draft, making the Shough pick even more worthless.
While Young is far from an established star quarterback in the NFL, the Panthers will march into the 2025 season with the former No. 1 pick coming off the best stretch of his career alongside a much deeper and more impressive collection of wide receivers. The Saints, meanwhile, are bailing water.
Shough is likely going to play a ton this season, unless Rattler turns into Drew Brees under Moore's watch. Either way, the Panthers benefit.