Will Levis · TEN

Other NFL team previews: 32. Dolphins | 31. Jets | 30. Cardinals | 29. Browns | 28. Titans | 27. Raiders | 26. Falcons | 25. Giants | 24. Saints The New Orleans Saints looked like they might bottom out last season. Even their big moves in the offseason seemed like they were settling for leftovers. The Saints were the last team to fill their coaching vacancy, hiring Kellen Moore. Part of that was waiting until Moore guided the Eagles' offense through the Super Bowl, but other candidates like Joe Brady, Kliff Kingsbury, Aaron Glenn and Mike McCarthy had already backed out . There were many bad situations among the coaching vacancies last offseason, and the Saints' situation was arguably the worst. They had a roster with practically no young blue-chip talent other than receiver Chris Olave , no quarterback and the salary cap was a mess. Some analysts really liked quarterback Tyler Shough before the 2025 NFL Draft, but if he was that clean of a prospect he wouldn't have been available to the Saints at 40th overall. And if the Saints truly thought he was a franchise quarterback, they would have drafted him at ninth overall instead of offensive lineman Kelvin Banks Jr. Other teams with a dire need at quarterback passed on Shough. Injuries, age (Shough was 26 years old as a rookie) and only one full season of college starts pushed him down. The Saints took a shot in the second round, even though most quarterbacks picked outside the second round don't work out. In the 10 drafts before Shough was picked, there was only one second-round QB success story ( Jalen Hurts ) and the rest were busts ( Christian Hackenberg , DeShone Kizer , Drew Lock , Kyle Trask , Will Levis ). And the 2025 Saints season started predictably bad. Shough couldn't beat Spencer Rattler in the preseason and the Saints didn't make a QB change until November even though they lost seven of Rattler's eight starts. Shough lost his first start too, and New Orleans was 1-8. At that point, five of their previous six losses were by double digits. We don't remember that about the Saints as they head into this season. That's because the Saints had an out-of-nowhere turnaround in the second half that changed the franchise's entire outlook. Coaches of 1-8 teams can lose the team in the second half , but the Saints continued to play hard for Moore. That was a great sign for a rookie head coach. Shough finished second in NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting despite starting just nine games. He was a revelation for most of the second half, allowing the Saints to have no concerns about what to do at quarterback this offseason. Shough proved he should be the quarterback in 2026 and it looks like he could hold the job far beyond this season too. The Saints went 5-3 down the stretch with wins at the Panthers and Buccaneers, who would finish in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC South. The Saints were the only team to not finish 8-9 in the division, but they were the NFC South's best team in the second half of the season. Two good months is all it took for the Saints to go from looking hopeless to envisioning a bright future, behind a coach who was the last pick in that hiring cycle and a quarterback who was drafted at a spot so many others had zero success. "Like so many players on our team, [Shough] just got better each and every week," Moore said after the season, via the team's site . The job isn't done. Moore and Shough will have to show they are capable long-term solutions and didn't just catch a heater for a half season against a soft schedule. The roster still has plenty of issues; it was never going to be a one-offseason rebuild. But the Saints hope they have the two most important pieces in place, and finally have some salary cap flexibility for 2027 as well. At the end of October last season, the Saints being optimistic about the future by this summer seemed like an impossible dream. That changed fast. The Saints finally got their salary cap in order. T [... truncated ...]

Fernando Mendoza

QB · LV

Ty Simpson

QB · LAR

+1 players

general

Why first-round talent may not be enough for Brendan Sorsby in NFL supplemental draft

CBS Sports NFLJun 23, 2026, 7:45 PM+32 stories · 30dSource ↗

Fernando Mendoza Ty Simpson Will Levis

Even with Brendan Sorsby being the most high-profile player in at least 15 years to apply for the NFL supplemental draft, a consistent theme stands out in conversations with NFL front offices — a belief that the Texas Tech quarterback's gambling scandal will likely drop him lower than the second-round range predicted in some media reports. In recent days, CBS Sports spoke with six front-office and personnel sources. Four of them — an assistant general manager and three player personnel directors — said they think Sorsby goes in the fourth round or later. The two others — a college scouting director and a national scout — predicted a third-round selection. "I think the issues will push him down," the assistant GM said. "Talent is first or second round, but wouldn't surprise me if he's picked more in the fifth (round range), maybe fourth depending on the team's appetite for risk-reward." If not for the gambling scandal, the outlook for Sorsby would be much different. Multiple of the aforementioned sources view Sorsby, who started at Cincinnati over the last two years before transferring to Texas Tech in January, as better than all the quarterbacks from this year's NFL draft aside from Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson . Had he been in the draft, those sources believe he would have gone somewhere in the first two rounds, possibly even as early as the first round. "Ridiculously talented," a college scouting director said. "The ball just absolutely pops. He's got one of the best arms that's come out in a while. He's athletic. The gambling stuff scares you, and I don't see him being like a guy Year 1 (ready to start), but you can redshirt him for a year in the NFL, and you have a chance to hit on a lottery ticket that's pretty good." One of the front office sources also shared that, from a talent standpoint, Sorsby is a better prospect than other recent early-round QBs coming out of college, such as Will Levis , the No. 33 overall pick in 2023. "He has (NFL) starter talent," a player personnel director said. "I think that part is clear to me. There are and were unresolved questions about how he is with being on schedule, accuracy, playing within the pocket, anticipation and then whether or not the athletic nature and playmaking ability to extend and all that stuff would translate and transfer, so another season would have been good to see. But in terms of pure talent, has starter ability." Typically, a quarterback viewed as a future starter ends up going in the first or second round. However, this is a complicated and unprecedented situation, and as one player personnel director pointed out, the NFL takes gambling seriously to the point that wide receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended for the entire 2022 season for betting on NFL games . There are a number of NFL front office staffers still unsure whether the league will approve Sorsby's entry into the supplemental draft. There are also a good number of front-office staffers who expect the NFL to make an example of Sorsby, who admitted to placing at least $90,000 in bets while in college, including at least 40 on Indiana football games while he was on the Hoosiers' roster. "They're probably going to make a statement because they don't want it to continue to happen with other players," a player personnel director said. Even if he's approved for the supplemental draft, the chance of a lengthy suspension has at least some NFL front offices viewing Sorsby as essentially a redshirt candidate whom teams would be taking a flier for 2027 and beyond. It is worth noting, though, as a recent example surely to be referenced by Sorsby's legal team with the NFL, that the league didn't suspend New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte despite it coming out that Boutte had bet on sports while in college at LSU, including on several LSU football games. One difference, however, is that Boutte was already in the NFL and had already played a season with the Patriots before being arrest [... truncated ...]

Mac Jones

QB · SF

Malik Willis

QB · MIA

+13 players

general

Ranking NFL's top 10 backup quarterback situations in 2026: Mac Jones, Fernando Mendoza among top options

CBS Sports NFLJun 16, 2026, 4:46 PM+8 stories · 30dSource ↗

Mac Jones Malik Willis Davis Mills

Once, many years ago, Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski were in Indianapolis ahead of a "Monday Night Football" game, and Gruden noticed Peyton Manning's backups weren't getting any reps., Gruden asked legendary offensive mind Tom Moore why that was the case. It berthed an all-time great quote. "Fellas, if 18 [Manning] goes down, we're f---ed," Moore said, according to Jaworski's account in The Games That Changed The Game . "And we don't practice f---ed." That's one way to view a backup quarterback. If he's on the field, the team is already in deep trouble. And in Manning's case, that proved true. When he missed the 2011 season, the Colts went 2-14. The other way to view backup quarterbacks is that they're important players and could be the most important player at the drop of a dime. Whether it's for a play, a drive, a game or more, having a good insurance plan is crucial. Last year, quarterbacks who weren't the Week 1 starter ended up starting nearly 130 games. Some of the NFL's top teams -- think playoff outfits such as the 49ers ( Mac Jones ), Packers ( Malik Willis ) and Texans ( Davis Mills ) -- got key wins with their starting quarterback out. Other teams lost those opportunities when their starters were out; the Ravens went 0-2 and managed a measly 13 points in Cooper Rush's two starts, for example. So, who's in the best shape if their starter goes down in 2026? These are the top 10 backup quarterback situations across the league. (NOTE: Excluded are three quarterback battles still TBD: the Vikings ( Kyler Murray vs. J.J. McCarthy ), the Falcons ( Tua Tagovailoa vs. Michael Penix Jr. ) and the Browns ( Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders ). Anthony Richardson's on-field lows have been as low as any passer, and when you add the significant injury history to the equation, it's fair to question why he's on this list. In 2024, when he started 11 games, he finished 33rd in expected points added per play, ahead of only Cooper Rush, Gardner Minshew and Will Levis . He was wildly off-target (17.6% of his throws were deemed off-target, the second-worst number of the last decade), and he threw eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions. It wasn't good enough. But the big plays, plus the idea that he could improve, earned him a spot. He led the NFL in yards per completion in 2024. Obviously, there were far too few completions, but the big-play ability is there, given his absolute bazooka of a right arm. Furthermore, Richardson's rushing ability is a major plus, especially on designed quarterback runs. He's a hammer at the goal line, but even more impressive, he had an 18% explosive rush rate from 2023-24, third in the NFL behind only Drake Maye and Kyler Murray. Could he have a Malik Willis-esque rebirth in another place, as a clearly talented player in need of refinement? Maybe. Could he appear in a pinch as a backup and be a disaster? Maybe. Could he appear in a pinch and have a positive impact with his legs? Maybe. He remains a great unknown. This is, quite simply, a bet on development and Ben Johnson. Tyson Bagent was a fun story three seasons ago, when, as an undrafted rookie, he led Chicago to a pair of wins in a lost season. Never mind that he threw two times as many interceptions (six) as touchdowns (three) in his cameo; it was fun, and the lanky D-II product showed some tools. Bagent has thrown six regular-season passes since Caleb Williams arrived in Chicago. But last year, right before the season, the Bears extended him on a two-year deal. If he's good enough for Johnson, who already looks like one of the NFL's top coaches, to deem him a worthy backup, he's good enough to make this list. The Eagles curiously traded for Andy Dalton in March, which seemed to signal Tanner McKee's time in the City of Brotherly Love might be ending. Selecting Cole Payton in the fifth round a month later only furthered that line of thinking. Yet here we are in June, and the Eagles have four quarterbacks on the roster. Maybe that changes betw [... truncated ...]