Who Should I Start? Kirk Cousins or Tyler Shough

Thursday, April 24, 6:07 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins could watch the first round of this year's NFL draft on Thursday night to see what the QB landscape looks like before waiving his no-trade clause on Friday to allow for a possible trade. However, Underdog's James Palmer writes that it seems more and more likely that Cousins could be waiting to see how the second round plays out on Friday night before making any decisions. The 36-year-old veteran signal-caller has made it clear that he wants to be a starter elsewhere over serving as Michael Penix Jr.'s backup in 2025. After Penix took over for the struggling Cousins late last year, the veteran QB prefers to be traded to a team that doesn't have a young up-and-coming signal-caller on the roster already. The Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings have been mentioned as the three most likely candidates to consider trading for Cousins during the draft.

Saturday, May 10, 1:01 PM

Now that quarterback Derek Carr (shoulder) has announced his retirement, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport writes that it sets the stage for rookie second-round quarterback Tyler Shough to be the team's eventual starter in 2025. Shough's stock for his rookie campaign was already rising with Carr's availability in question for 2025 due to a shoulder injury, but now Carr is out of the picture completely. The 25-year-old Shough will be competing primarily with Spencer Rattler, who completed just 57% of his passes while throwing four touchdowns and five interceptions in his rookie season in 2024. Even if the Saints give Shough a little more time to develop and name Rattler the starter for Week 1, it seems likely that Shough will be starting games in the Big Easy sooner than later in 2025. Shough is old for a rookie and has plenty of experience, making him the current favorite over Rattler for QB1 duties.