2025 NFL Draft Quarterback Scouting Report - Tyler Shough, Louisville
Hey all,
Back with another edition of my 2025 NFL Draft QB Scouting Series! This week, I’ll be covering rising Louisville quarterback, Tyler Shough. I have the full written eval below. If you want to check out the YouTube video for Shough, you can check it out with the link below:
Tyler Shough, Louisville
Height: 6’5”; Weight: 224 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 25 years and 7 months
Class: RS Sixth-Year Senior
Overall Grade: 2.72/4 (May Have a Future Role)
2024 Stats:
Passing: 244/389 (62.7%); 3195 yards; 23 TDs; 6 INTs
Rushing: 42 carries; 19 yards; 1 TD; 1 Fumble
2024 Games Charted: Notre Dame, Miami, Clemson, Pittsburgh
Totals from Games Charted:
Short Throw Accuracy on Platform: 60/72 (83.33%)
Short Throw Accuracy off Platform: 15/28 (53.57%)
Medium Throw Accuracy on Platform: 55/84 (65.48%)
Medium Throw Accuracy off Platform: 18/24 (75%)
Intermediate Throw Accuracy on Platform: 18/30 (60%)
Intermediate Accuracy off Platform: N/A
Deep Throw Accuracy on Platform: 13/28 (46.43%)
Deep Throw Accuracy off Platform: N/A
Left Side of Field Accuracy: 65/100 (65%)
Middle of Field Accuracy: 45/62 (72.58%)
Right Side of Field Accuracy: 70/106 (66.04%)
Total Accuracy: 180/268 (67.16%)
On Platform, Way Off Target Throws (Vertical/Horizontal): 10/2 (2.5/0.5 per game)
Off Platform, Way Off Target Throws (Vertical/Horizontal): 0/1 (/0.25 per game)
Sacks/Fumbles: 9/1 (2.25/0.25 per game)
Deflections/Pass Interference: 1/3 (0.25/0.75 per game)
Throwaways/INTs/Dropped INTs: 16/1/1 (4/0.25/0.25 per game)
Drops: 6 (1.5 per game)
Designed Runs/Scrambles: 4/6 (1/1.5 per game)
Success vs Blitz: 24/57 (42.11%)
Success vs Pressure: 53/113 (46.90%)
Footwork: C-
Pocket Presence: B-
“Playmaking”: C-
Short Throw Accuracy: A-
Medium Throw Accuracy: B
Intermediate Throw Accuracy: B
Deep Throw Accuracy: C+
Throw on the Run: B+
Success Against Pressure/Blitz: C+
Arm Strength: B+
Release: B+
Ball Security: B
Top Starter Potential: C
Strengths:
Arm strength
Release
Throwing with anticipation
Pocket management skills
Ball security
Areas of Improvement:
Age + injury history
Footwork
Ball placement
Deep ball accuracy
Success against pressure/blitz
Comp: Mason Rudolph
After battling injuries and bouncing between teams, Tyler Shough was finally able to remain healthy and start a season. He didn’t disappoint, showing off his great arm strength. He can effortlessly drive the ball downfield and throw to the opposite side of the field with good velocity. He also has enough arm strength to put great arc on throws to drop the ball into buckets down the field. When he’s targeting downfield, he does a good job putting the ball in a place where only his pass catcher can make a play on it. His feel for release angles also helps him in this with the touch he can put on throws. Also, his release in general is really good with a quick motion with minimal dip and overextension. Also, he is comfortable throwing at different arm angles and loves to go to his sidearm throw to try to fit the ball between defenders. That quick release helps him get the ball out quickly before the pass rush gets a chance to make a sack. His active feet in the pocket also help as he does a good job maneuvering in the pocket to extend his time. He also has a good sense of when the pressure is breaking and knows when to break from the pocket. Also, he didn’t do it often, but he does have decent speed to escape pressure to give him a bit of scramble ability. When he isn’t able to escape pressure, he is comfortable making throwaways to try again the next play. Also, he does a good job finding passing windows despite his limited starting experience with few passes deflected at the line of scrimmage. Mechanically, there are improvements he can make but he does a good job keeping his feet flat and can quickly get his feet aligned with his target in the pocket. Despite being new to the team and having limited starting experience, he does a good job throwing with anticipation and can throw it accurately in these situations thanks to quickly getting his feet set appropriately. Also, despite his limited playing time, he knows how to protect the ball from harm’s way.
However, his lack of starting experience shows with his difficulties against pressure and blitzes. He can be a bit delayed in recognizing pressure and can be a bit slow resetting and finding his checkdown when pressured. While he is a pretty clean decision maker when kept clean in the pocket, he can make some really poor and overly aggressive decisions when under duress. To make matters worse, he has a tendency to trail back against pressure rather than stepping up leading to a lot of backfoot throws. That tendency to throw off his backfoot shows too often, especially against pressure, and ruins a lot of his attempts in pressured situations as he completely loses his base. His base in general is consistent and not always sturdy and is made worse with his upper and lower body not always being in sync due to him being delayed in his hip drive. He can sometimes also make his base shaky by bouncing in the pocket when he gets impatient or starts to feel some pressure. Those lacking lower body mechanics likely contributed to him having some struggles consistently getting the ball to his pass catchers in a way to maximize yards after the catch. His dropback also shows signs of inexperience with it being very heel clicky with a lot of leg crossing. He also seems to be fighting with it to find the right pacing for his steps at times. Also, though he can get his chest square with his target on the move, he can struggle to get his feet aligned which causes some lapses in accuracy. He also needs a bit of tune-up in his release as he has a tendency to flair it out which prolongs his motion. Speaking of his release, I’d like to see him use the different arm angles he can throw at more against pressure as he needs to find a way to be more successful. Right now, his success rate against pressure and blitzes is just too poor and it’s hard to see a team feeling comfortable trusting him when things will likely only get more tough in the NFL. It will also be interesting to see if teams trust him since his arm strength may not be enough to get teams on board with a player who will be turning 26 years old in the first month of his rookie season. Also, while his arm strength is very good, I would have liked to see it translate more into his deep ball accuracy as it was very erratic. I also have serious concerns with him as a processor. He does a lot of staring and there are too many times when he seems to be too slow moving through his progressions. That slow processing also seemed to play a part in his issues against pressure and blitzes as he would get too focused on the pass concept and catch the pressure late. Also, his staring sometimes keyed defenses in where he was planning to attack and nullified some pre-snap recognition he does against blitzes as he sometimes would stare at his pass catcher he planned to target. I also have concerns about how comfortable he is leading a team with so limited playing time. There were a lot of games when he started out hot but then fizzled out as the game went on. It felt like a lot of times he would start to struggle once the team was in a hole and he then tried to force things too much. Now, a fair amount of blame could be placed on the playcalling which also has me a bit worried about Shough at the next level. This season at Louisville, he had a play action rate on 44% of his pass attempts. Similar to Jaxson Dart, that is a really high mark and makes me nervous since that makes things easier in college against less polished players but doesn’t work in the NFL and is part of the reason most teams use play action on only about 20% to 25% of pass attempts. So reading defenses without the continual aid of play action may require an adjustment.
In general, there are definitely some lapses he has and areas he still needs to improve in. However, those areas can sometimes be improved by having more reps so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be optimistic he’ll get there if he gets more playing time and stays healthy. If you want to be an optimist, there are a lot of similarities to Jared Goff if Shough goes to the right team. However, I think that’s a lofty projection and needs too much to go right to reach it. So, I instead have a much more realistic comp of Mason Rudolph. Rudolph and Shough both have good size and quality arms. Both also have good pocket management skills and have a good eye to find passing windows. They also do a solid job reducing sacks thanks to their release and their willingness to take throwaways. While neither are rushers, they both can pick up yards on the ground from time to time. Also, both are good at attacking the intermediate areas of the field and can do a good job throwing with anticipation. Unfortunately, both do a lot of staring and can struggle with decision making when pressured or blitzed. Also, both come from play action-heavy schemes and will need to prove they can win in a more standard NFL offense. Both also have issues with their footwork which compromises their accuracy and affects how often they can give a pass catcher a good runway to pick up yards after the catch. Similar to Rudolph, teams could find his traits appealing and target him earlier than expected. However, I hope they have a development plan in place and have a good offensive line to put him in a position to succeed.