The 'C' on the jersey, the spot in the center of the pregame huddle, the outsized expectations of a fanbase and a city -- none of those things show up without being earned.
And that's the mentality Saints quarterback Tyler Shough took with him as he entered his first true NFL offseason.
"I wanted to do everything I could to make sure that my teammates knew I had their back," Shough said this week.
He didn't do that with words, at least not at first. It began with the decision to stick around in the city, embracing the culture. He jumped at the opportunity to ride in a mardi gras parade. He took the field for a BananaBall game at the Superdome. He even found time for a New Orleans rodeo, all in the same offseason that he welcomed his first child.
He leaned on veterans and former players during that span as he worked out a leadership style that fit the city and the team. Nowhere was that represented more clearly than with the multi-day passing retreat he organized and footed the bill for out in San Diego between OTAs and the start of training camp. Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees helped Shough organize the event and spent time working out with the current crop of Saints pass-catchers.
When Shough was named a captain this week, it wasn't simply a placeholder title gifted to the starting QB. The Saints were the only team in the NFL last year that elected season-long captains and didn't have a quarterback in that number. This year's decision, a vote from his teammates, was earned. He's joined in that group on offense by center Erik McCoy and LG David Edwards.
"[Being a captain is] probably the biggest thing I feel like I’ve accomplished in my career," he said.
But that's only a step in the journey. The real weight and expectations are just starting to set in. The Saints haven't visited postseason play in 5 years, and that destination felt as far away as it ever had as the team stumbled to a 1-7 start in 2025, even with the locker room staying committed and bought in to Kellen Moore's messaging in Year 1. The Saints needed a spark, and they first attempted to find it in the second half of Week 8. Nothing ignited right away. Shough's first drive ended in an interception and, despite throwing the ball 30 times, it wasn't a pretty result. The same could be said after a blowout loss to the Rams in Shough's debut start.
But that spark finally began to catch in a Week 10 win over the Rams, and it continued to build despite a pair of tough losses over the next three weeks. One four-game winning streak later and the job was Shough's for the foreseeable future. The only question is what he does with it and just how high this group's ceiling can be set. We'll start to learn that on Sunday in a matchup with a heavily favored Lions squad.
"I think more than anything ... is I want the fans and everybody to feel our play style, feel the culture of how we operate, what do offensively as a team," he said. "I feel like we're so tight-knit. You see it in the locker room. Not everybody can kind of feel the energy at practice every single day and it's a lot of fun. That's my job and my goal is to make sure that doesn't dwindle."
