While the NFC South does appear to be, comfortably, the worst division in the NFL ahead of the 2026 NFL Season, it could also be the most competitive. In 2025, all of Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta finished with eight wins and went 3-3 in the division.
And New Orleans casually won four of five to end the season, finishing with six wins. I am not sure it's likely that another eight-win season would be enough to win the division, but you get the point here. The four teams were competitively mediocre in 2026.
However, a couple of teams appear to be trending in the right direction, so it would be a shock to me, at least, if the winner wasn't at 10 wins or more in the 2026 season. As the 2026 offseason rolls on and we continue with our NFL Power Rankings, let's power-rank the four projected starting quarterbacks in the NFC South.
Power-ranking the NFC South starting quarterbacks for the 2026 NFL Season
4. Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints
Tyler Shough has the highest ceiling of any quarterback in the NFC South for the 2026 season, but he's played fewer than 17 games and has a very limited sample size. Starting nine games, the Saints went 5-4 with Shough under center. He tossed 10 touchdowns against six interceptions for a modest 91.3 passer rating.
Shough added another three touchdowns on the ground, so he did have more than double the amount of touchdowns as interceptions, which is a great start for the rookie. Now with Shough entrenched as the starting quarterback, we should see what he can do over a full 17 games, granted he stays on the field.
Shough possesses a frisky, Bo Nix-like skillset, where he can make plays with an arm plenty good enough to treaten all levels of the field, but also having the dual-threat ability to make throws on the run or simply create plays on the ground.
I am higher on the Saints than most, but this team probably isn't quite there yet. I would expect a modest improvement in 2026, as a winning record is possible. For now, though, Shough is the least proven starting quarterback in the division, so it should not come as a shock that he's No. 4 in our power rankings.
Given what we saw near the end of 2025, it would not be a massive surprise if Shough began to breakout in 2026.
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