And the award for the “Who?” prospect that suddenly shoots up NFL mock drafts goes to Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough.
Shough, who is set to have a private workout with the Giants, has emerged as the buzzy player with the 2025 NFL Draft just eight day away.
Recent reports from national NFL insiders have one coach calling him the best quarterback in the class and a general manager stating he’s the best pure thrower in the draft.
The Post ranked Shough fourth in its top-10 list of quarterbacks in this year’s draft and noted that his stock has “risen steadily” since the Senior Bowl.
“He’s NFL ready,” an NFL offensive assistant coach told The Post’s Ryan Dunleavy. “I don’t know if he has a ‘Superman’ trait, but I think he is an unbelievably efficient quarterback who can win a lot of games. There’s no such thing as a ‘safe’ pick, but you can bet that he is the type of person you want in your facility, and just hope his injuries aren’t crazy.”
The months and weeks leading into the NFL draft are filled with rumors about players rising and falling and there usually is a player or two that the casual NFL fan doesn’t know who blows up nationally.
This year’s quarterback class is considered underwhelming, especially compared to last year’s strong group, and that has allowed room for variance in the rankings.
Cam Ward is projected to go first to the Titans but then there are some differences in opinions, largely due to the varying viewpoints on the potentially sliding Shedeur Sanders.
And that’s where Shough enters.
The ACC did not provide much incentives to watch its brand of football this year but Shough produced 23 touchdowns to just six interceptions and threw for 3,195 passing yards.
Working against him is his age (26) and how he battled injuries during his seven years in college (Editor’s note: No, he was not a doctor) that also featured stops with Oregon and Texas Tech.
“He has all the traits you want in a quarterback,” one NFL scout told Dunleavy. “Because he’s older, had three consecutive injuries and this was his first full season, he was under the radar. Otherwise, could we be having a very different (first-round) discussion?”
There does not seem to be much or any talk of Shough working his way into the upper half of the first round, but it’s certainly possible he could work his way into the back half of the round.
If the Browns and Giants pass on drafting a quarterback at pick Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, they could potentially trade back into the first round for a signal-caller or use their early second-round slots on Shough or another of the other lower-tier options like Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart or Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.
ESPN’s latest mock draft by Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates had the Giants taking Shough with the 34th pick.
If Big Blue lands Shough, they would be landing the top quarterback in the draft, as relayed by one coach to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.
“His stock is rising,” Russini said. “He is a name that I am hearing in league circles way more now than three weeks ago in terms of a QB on the board that could be taken in the first round.”
A recent segment on “The Pat McAfee Show” showed the ESPN Bet odds for which quarterback would be drafted second and it did not include Shough, which led to insider Peter Schrager offering this juicy tidbyt.
“I spoke to a GM, who I really trust and is really good, and he’s like, ‘Well, if you’re looking for the best pure thrower of the ball it’s Tyler Shough out of Louisville.’ And I’m like, ‘Tyler Shough?’” Schrager said. “And I’m looking at my list and I’m like, ‘OK.’ And I’m looking at this list here on your board and there are several other names and Tyler Shough is not one of them.”
