Todd McShay admits he might draft Tyler Shough over Shedeur Sanders

NFL Draft expert Todd McShay admitted that he might draft Tyler Shough over Shedeur Sanders in April, if he had the choice.

The former Louisville quarterback bounced around from Oregon to Texas Tech to Louisville, being plagued by injuries. But he looked pretty solid in 2024 under Jeff Brohm.

But it was certainly an interesting take when you compared Shough to Sanders, who starred at Jackson State and Colorado, where he rose to superstardom.

“I, honest to god, think that Tyler Shough from Louisville based off of one year on tape, if you’re just dropped on this planet and you’re looking at one year of tape, is as good as any of those guys,” McShay said on David Pollack’s YouTube channel. “Maybe you start him at two behind Cam Ward in terms of natural talent and what Ward could develop into. I might take him, if I didn’t know anything about anything, I might take Tyler Shough over Shedeur Sanders.”

Shough’s final season, playing at Louisville, threw for 3,195 yards, 23 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 62.7% completion percentage, setting career highs across the board.

For comparison, Sanders finished the 2024 campaign with career highs too: 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 74% completion percentage. Sanders also has the career FBS record for completion percentage with 71.8%.

“How about this little nugget? Shough’s first year, he was a backup quarterback to Justin Herbert,” McShay said. “Think about that … He was the starter the next year. The problem is he had one year as the starter, kind of up and down that program was, and his play was as a first year starter. And then wound up getting injured the next year, transfers to Texas Tech, gets injured. 

“It’s two collar bones, and what was the other injury … but three injuries, three years in a row, finally transfers again to Louisville, gets with the Brohms, gets some development, has a healthy year, and his tape was awesome.”

As a member of the Class of 2018, Shough was a four-star recruit out of Chandler (Ari.) Hamilton, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the state, the No. 12 quarterback in the class and the No. 122 overall prospect in the class.