Please join me in a moment of silence for the death of Tyler Shough’s career.

(Brief pause.) Thank you.

Shough has the tools to be the second-best quarterback in New Orleans Saints history. Better than Archie Manning. Better than Bobby Hebert. Miles better than Ken Stabler or Richard Todd or Jim “Chrissie” Everett.

There will never be another Drew Brees, but Shough has the toughness, moxie, smarts, courage and arm talent to be a franchise quarterback. What he doesn’t have is a supporting cast or a coach who holds individual team members or assistant coaches responsible for their failures.

As mentioned last week, the Saints offensive line is shockingly bad, despite heavy investments in draft capital and salary-cap space. That was on full display in front of God and everybody Monday night in the Caesars Superdome.

If the Falcons pass rush was a flash flood, the Saints offensive line was hardly even a colander. Shough regularly had large men with bad intentions busting his chops the very second he planted his back foot to make a throw.

No quarterback can thrive with such an onslaught. Tom Brady in his prime would have been the second coming of Danny Wuerffel behind the 2026 New Orleans Saints offensive line.

And it’s not like this Atlanta defense is a modern version of the Purple People Eaters. The team lost edge player Jalon Walker to a torn ACL in training camp and the other edge, James Pearce, to a suspension for the season’s first eight games. Walker’s replacement, Za’Darius Smith, left Monday’s game after suffering a concussion in the first quarter. Heading into the game, he was the Falcons’ sack leader.

The team Monday night was also without defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand, who’s out for the year, and top corner A.J. Terrell, who’s on injured reserve for four games.

Just like the Saints, the Falcons defense was decimated, and was relying on guys who should have been watching the game from the comfort of their La-Z-Boy sectionals. Still, they ran through the Saints offensive line like marauding Vikings through an English monastery.

Shough is tough as nails. He repeatedly endured rib-crunching hits to make throws down the field, and never once seemed to go into self-preservation mode by looking at the on-rushers rather than his receivers.

But no one can endure that type of punishment for long. At some point, if Shough continues to put the team ahead of his well-being, he’s going to get injured. It’s just the law of averages.

How did the Saints end up this thin? Too many bad drafts. The team seems to have one good draft every decade, and early returns indicate the 2025 draft was one of those. The team got five starters in that draft — Shough, Kelvin Banks, Vernon Broughton, Jonas Sanker and Quincy Riley — as well as a decent backup in Danny Stutsman.

But the 2026 draft has been an unmitigated disaster. This team finished last season showing promise, but it needed to snag some overachievers in this year’s draft to go to the next level and compete for a playoff spot in a very winnable NFC South.

It didn’t do that. Jordyn Tyson is loaded with potential, but of course, potential means you haven’t done it yet. It’s hard to contribute from the training room. The Saints knew his injury history, decided to take their chances anyway and got burned like Richard Pryor during an eight-ball high. Four games into the season, Tyson has 0 catches for 0 yards. But he looks great in all his college highlight reels. Maybe the Saints can show those to opponents.

Second-round pick Christen Miller, who should be learning the pro game while filling the gaping hole left by injured Bryan Bresee, has been keeping Tyson company in the training room while nursing a toe injury.

Third-round pick Oscar Delp hardly has contributed more than Tyson. He’s got one catch for 8 yards, and seems to have learned from the Saints offensive line how to pass block. He’s a pale shadow of teammate Juwan Johnson, who cost the team exactly zero draft capital.

Fourth-round pick Jeremiah Wright must be really awful because he’s remained on the bench while starting guard Cesar Ruiz continues to block the thick, humid Louisiana air.

Fellow fourth-round pick Bryce Lance is the team’s WR3, but he’s got only five catches for 57 yards. He also seems to have a knack for not being where Shough expects him to be, leading to some awful-looking throws that are clearly not Shough’s fault. Lance is the common denominator in nearly all of them.

Fifth-rounder Lorenzo Styles, drafted mostly to be a special-teams contributor, has spent the season yucking it up with Tyson and Miller in the training room.

Sixth-rounder Barion Brown is the team’s punt- and kick-returner, but has delivered only one return of consequence, putting the Saints in position for a field goal to end the first half against Baltimore.

Seventh-rounder T.J. Hall was cut and signed to the team’s practice squad.

So far, the only contributors from the entire draft have been Lance and Brown, and neither has been a head-turner.

But the 2026 draft looks like a rich, buttery, triple-chocolate-frosted birthday cake compared to the 2023 draft. That year, the Saints took Bresee, DE Isaiah Foskey, RB Kendre Miller, OL Nick Saldiveri, QB Jake Haener, DB Jordan Howden and WR A.T. Perry.

Bresee was a hit from that draft, but again, his injury has kept him from contributing this year. Foskey was one of the worst whiffs in the league since Tony Mandarich, and something seems fundamentally wrong with Miller. The man simply lacks the desire to be good or even decent.

Nobody from that draft has contributed anything of significance to this season.

The Saints have a couple of really good offensive pieces in Shough and primary receiver Chris Olave, as well as some solid role players in Johnson and WR Devaughn Vele. Other than that, there’s not a player who would start on any other team in the NFL.

On the defensive side of the ball, Kaden Elliss has well filled the shoes left by Demario Davis, Chase Young is playing the best ball of his career and before Monday night, the safeties looked above average. But this week, Elliss was out, Young was a non-factor and the safeties took a step back.

Shough singlehandedly carried the offense to 24 points, but you’re not going to win many games in the NFL when you give up 45.

The second-year quarterback out of Louisville has shown such promise. Fans endured a long offseason, eagerly counting the days to Shough’s 2026 debut because of how well he finished the 2025 season.

And he’s delivered more than even the most optimistic Who Dat could have hoped for. But this team has more holes than the southern border during the Biden administration.

Now it has to face a Vikings D that’s substantially better than the Falcons’ on a short week.

Shough might want to fake an injury and join Tyson and Miller in the training room.