Who Should I Start? Tyler Shough or Caleb Williams

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.

Monday, June 23, 6:04 PM

The Athletic's Adam Jahns writes that Chicago Bears new head coach Ben Johnson is challenging second-year quarterback Caleb Williams every day about everything and is coaching him hard, which should be a good thing for his development going into his second NFL season. Johnson's fiery, demanding persona stood out on the practice field during the offseason program, and it's expected to continue into training camp this summer. The 23-year-old was sacked a league-high 68 times while throwing for 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions in 17 starts after being the first overall pick in last year's draft. He also rushed for 489 yards. Fantasy managers should give the USC product a pass after the Bears fired their head coach and offensive coordinator midway through Williams' rookie season. With Johnson now running the offense and plenty of weapons at his disposal, Williams should take a step forward in 2025.