Who Should I Start? Deshaun Watson or Tyler Shough

Monday, May 19, 10:25 PM

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (Achilles) has been throwing to receivers Jerry Jeudy and David Bell at the team's facility and has been out of his walking boot for several weeks, a league source told The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot. However, Watson is not part of the offseason QB competition among Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. The 29-year-old Watson had a second surgery on his Achilles back on Jan. 9 and is not expected to be ready to play at the start of the 2025 season this fall. In fact, he's widely expected to miss all of the 2025 campaign, with many believing that he's already played his last game for the Browns. Still, Watson has made "excellent progress" in his recovery from a torn right Achilles that he suffered last season. But given his injury and his off-field drama, Watson's NFL future remains very murky.

Thursday, June 26, 2:37 PM

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was selected in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and veteran signal-caller Derek Carr (shoulder) announced his retirement shortly after. This leaves Shough as the favorite to win the QB1 job in his rookie season, though he is competing with sophomore Spencer Rattler. After a long college football career full of adversity, Shough is ready for the growing pains and downs of his first year in the NFL. "I think for me and what I've been through: I've been carted off the field, I've been booed, I've been an MVP, I've been a starter, I've been a backup to [Justin] Herbert," Shough said. "You're not going to faze me if we start off 0-2 or I suck. It's going to be fine." The former Oregon Duck, Texas Tech Red Raider, and Louisville Cardinal acknowledge that while he's an older first-year player, he's still a rookie who will have to learn. Even if Shough pans out, he likely won't be a fantasy football contributor in single-QB leagues this season since he does not have much of a rushing skill set. That said, he could be a QB2 sleeper for Superflex and two-QB leagues while throwing passes to Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Alvin Kamara, Juwan Johnson, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.