Tyler Shough hopes his experience and maturity will be seen as an asset by NFL teams despite being an older prospect in this year’s draft. (Photo by Samuel Nute/Cronkite News)
INDIANAPOLIS – Some of life’s greatest challenges spring from adversity. It can either break a person or make them stronger, especially in professional athletics, where a gruesome injury can end careers. It takes time to rehab and return from injury, with no guarantee an athlete will step in between the lines again.
Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough, who played at Hamilton High School in Chandler, has battled back from three straight years of injuries and is grateful for the difficult moments he had to navigate as he prepares for the 2025 NFL Draft in April.
“I think you have to get injured, you have to go through some things because all these things can happen in the NFL (to) have success and failure,” Shough said at the NFL Combine last Friday. “I feel really mentally equipped, quite honestly, and I think it’s made me who I am today. I’m really thankful for it. Every every step.”
After graduating from Hamilton as a 4-star prospect, Shough began his collegiate career at Oregon for two seasons. He transferred to Texas Tech, where the injuries piled up. He broke his left collarbone in 2021, re-broke the same bone in 2022 and in 2023 broke his fibula. Shough finished his career at Louisville in 2024 with over 3,100 passing yards and 23 touchdown passes.
NFL teams require a player to check a multitude of boxes before drafting them. In Indianapolis, the process ramped up with the 2025 NFL scouting combine, giving teams opportunities to meet with players. Shough faces challenges checking boxes not only because of his injury history but also because of his age. He turns 26 in September, shortly after the NFL season kicks off.
In the NFL, draft age is a big discussion. The common narrative is teams prefer younger players who may have a higher ceiling compared to older players who have more snaps under their belt.
“There are some teams that really have a philosophy of they won’t touch a player that’s a little older,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said. “That’s probably had to adjust (with) COVID-19 and stuff. Guys are staying in school longer. NIL has guys staying in school longer.
“I think if you stay true to that, you’re limiting the pool that you’re picking from … It’s an interesting topic; it’s one we consistently discuss. There are pluses and minuses to both sides having a young guy who you think you can develop and is already a good player, than a guy who is a little more battle-tested and has been through more.”
Falcons coach Raheem Morris said the transfer portal has affected his scouting department.
NFL teams are evaluating Tyler Shough’s potential at quarterback, weighing his experience against his age and injury setbacks. (Photo by Samuel Nute/Cronkite News)
“It’s hard to judge guys for jumping into the transfer portal and what reasons they do it for. It’s just become more part of our scouting department,” Morris said. “I think our guys are able to move accordingly to find out what school they went to and what the reasons are.”
NIL and the transfer portal have transformed how college players operate. The college game now mirrors the NFL. The league has a free agency period, exactly how the transfer portal operates.
It’s not just NIL. The new JUCO transfer rules permit an athlete who spent two years at a two-year college to have four full years of eligibility when transferring to an NCAA program. This incentivizes athletes to develop in JUCO, then transfer and still have four years to compete.
It’s unclear how this new rule will affect the NFL Draft, but NIL is already impacting it in its limited existence.
“(49ers quarterback) Brock Purdy, whatever he made last year, $900,000 or whatever it was, would be like the 40th highest paid quarterback in college,” NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano said. “It’s a different world. (Miami quarterback) Cam Ward is an example of a guy that went back for the money and has vaulted himself into the top 10 in the draft.
“He could have gone in the draft last year; he found that he had like a fifth-round grade, sixth-round grade. He was a Day Three pick, and was like, ‘I’m gonna come back. I’m gonna make money, see what I could do,’ and look at what he did.”
Ward, who will be 23 when the season commences, chose the best route for himself. The topic of a prospect’s age, as Lynch mentioned, will differentiate depending on the NFL front office.
The philosophy may need to change as NIL develops. Lynch is still an optimist and sees the positives NIL can bring to young players’ lives.
“A lot of these guys now have money in college, and oftentimes you got to make mistakes to learn sometimes,” Lynch said. “(Hopefully) they’ve made their mistakes and hopefully they’re a little better-equipped. We used to get them when they’ve never had money, and suddenly, they have money (and) people asking them for money.”
It’s a developing topic for NFL executives who may have had to change their draft philosophy. Some, like Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek, want to “find good players.” Age doesn’t matter for his draft philosophy. Once the players enter the building, the team will figure it out.
That’s the ultimate goal for every NFL team in the offseason: to upgrade their roster and find talented players. Each general manager and head coach echoed it within their media availability in Indianapolis. They want talented players. Age shouldn’t matter.
“I’ve always thought the age thing was a little bit odd because the downside when you really get into age is by the end of his first contract, when we want to re-sign him to his next big contract, he’s already gonna be 28,” NFL Draft analyst EJ Snyder said. “Hold on. Back up. You won.
“The whole point of having draft picks is to get quality players and to have them work out for your team. And you’re telling me you got one, you spent the pick. He worked out, and now you’re worried about his second contract?”
Athletes stay in college for a multitude of reasons. For Ward, it was simply money and draft position. For players like Shough, injuries derailed his career into an avenue he didn’t expect.
“I think for me, it’s kind of been a benefit for me,” Shough said. “The experience (of) just understanding what cultivated this passion and (it) gave me a new perspective being in college for a while. And I think teams are kind of starting to recognize that.”
The NFL is very cyclical. The league got away from the power run game and started to downsize linebackers. Teams needed backers to be faster and able to pass cover. In the past year, the run game made a resurgence, with the Eagles marching to a Super Bowl title behind Saquon Barkley and backs like Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs taking the league by storm.
The pendulum swings back and forth. The league, in terms of quarterbacks, focused on upside and untapped potential in recent years. Upside sold teams into taking players who may not have had the most experience, but they still had compelling traits. For example, Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson was selected fourth overall in 2023. He didn’t have many snaps during his time at the University of Florida, but tested well at the combine along with freakish measurables. It hasn’t worked out thus far.
Now, the pendulum swings the other way. Over the past year, teams see an immediate impact from quarterbacks with more reps in college. Washington’s Jayden Daniels, last season’s offensive Rookie of the Year, and Denver quarterback Bo Nix proved this last season.
Shough believes the NFL doesn’t see his age as a negative. In his interviews in Indianapolis, he said the question never arose with teams he mentioned. He thinks his age should be considered a positive.
“I think quarterbacks play well,” Shough said. “I think better in their 30s. I think it’s kind of shown up time and time again. You see guys like Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr., and Jayden Daniels, who’ve kind of gone through some stuff in their college career, and they’ve had success early on.
“Obviously, you got guys like Sam Darnold, who played really well right now, and he’s into his late 20s, and (Aaron) Rodgers and all these guys. And I feel like as time (goes by), you only mature, and you can get better as a thrower.”
Maturity only sways a team so far. With quarterbacks, it’s a fluid trait. With other positions on the football field, age plays more of a factor. Certain players are expected to grow into their positions, the ones that typically require athleticism.
“It also depends on the type of player, but I would say edge rusher, cornerback, things of that nature,” NFL Draft analyst Jaime Eisner said.
An example Eisner gives with this draft is Texas A&M defensive lineman Shemar Stewart. He didn’t have great sack numbers in college, but he exhibits all the tools needed to succeed as a pass rusher. In Indianapolis, he lit up the combine, scoring a relative athletic score of 9.99, ranking him third out of 1,802 defensive end prospects who have been graded since 1987.
Despite his unusual path, Tyler Shough believes his college experience at Louisville has prepared him for the challenges of the NFL. (Photo by Samuel Nute/Cronkite News)
He’s the type of high-ceiling player teams look for, as he’s only 21. The story would be different if Stewart were a few years older. If he hasn’t put it all together at 25, what are the odds he’ll put it together once he gets in the building? That’s how NFL teams think.
“There’s no animosity in it,” South Carolina linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. “I just think there’s more wisdom in it because I have more reps, so that kind of makes me more of an asset. Just because you don’t have to take me by the hand and treat me like a kid. You can continue to treat me like a man because I’m gonna be reliable day in and day out.”
Shough isn’t one of those players who needs to worry about his athletic ceiling. Quarterbacks have proven successful in the NFL without being the fastest or the strongest; he possesses an ideal body type for a professional quarterback at 6-foot-4, 219 pounds and surprised some with his 4.63 time in the 40-yard dash at the combine.
Shough said he prepared for the moment 10 times more than he might have a couple years ago.
“I feel a lot more ready to come into this process than if I were 21 or 22 and only have played in one or two offenses, so like I’ve said, it’s only benefitted me,” he said.
His projection for April varies. Some analysts like The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked him as the No. 59 overall prospect in the draft. But in ESPN’s Jordan Reid’s most recent mock draft, Shough wasn’t selected.
The uphill battle should come to a close soon. Shough admits he was like every other player coming out of high school, hoping for a three-year college career, then going to the NFL. His journey didn’t fall that way, and within it came adversity.
Adversity brings some of the toughest challenges in life. Shough certainly got his fair share of it, but he didn’t quit. He instead kept working and, with the April draft fast approaching, he has proven no battle can faze him.
“I feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential for me,” Shough said. “I feel like the sky’s the limit. I think what has happened in my past has only given me that passion to keep going further. It kind of lit this little fire underneath me that I want to go out there and compete and prove myself. I am one of the best guys (in this draft). I think if you watch the tape back, you’ll see.”
