The New Orleans Pelicans and the New Orleans Saints are intrinsically tied together, even more so than other teams sharing the same city. That's because the Benson family, the majority owners of the Pels, also own the Saints, making them part of an exclusive group of majority sports owners that preside over multiple professional teams, alongside people like Jerry Reinsdorf (the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox) and Josh Harris (Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Commanders).
Not only do the Bensons have their checkbooks attached to both the Pelicans and the Saints, but they've also shown the tendency to be very hands-on, with Gayle Benson being a regularly visible presence at both the Smoothie King Center and the Caesars Superdome Stadium. As such, it's not absurd to analyze what the Saints are doing and apply it as an indicator for the Pelicans' future.
So far, what we've seen has been pretty discouraging. Like the Pelicans, the Saints just came off a disaster of a season, having gone 5-12 and finishing at the bottom of the NFC South. Hope came anew with the 2025 NFL Draft, though, just as it will if the Pels get the chance to acquire Cooper Flagg or another transformative rookie. Unfortunately, if the Pelicans' draft goes the way the Saints' has gone so far, New Orleans could be in for another rough all-around year of sports.
The Saints taking Tyler Shough should only discourage the Pelicans faithful
With their first-round pick, the 10th-overall selection, the Saints took offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. out of the University of Texas. Considering it was their second year in a row taking an offensive tackle in the first round, that choice wasn't exactly lauded by Saints fans, but at least it was an understandable decision. New Orleans desperately needed some additional heft on their offensive line, and he was by far the best player lineman available. Even if it wasn't an exciting pick, it was a defensible one.
Still, a significant chunk of the fanbase was expecting to come away with Shedeur Sanders and a revived sense of hope and pride in their team behind a shiny new quarterback prospect. To forego all of that to go with an offensive lineman instead was rightfully deflating to some.
When the Saints were called to make their second pick of the draft, though, they had a chance for redemption. Despite pre-draft expectations, Sanders had somehow lasted until New Orleans's second-round selection, 40th overall. Then, they made their choice, acquiring the rights to their quarterback of the future... Tyler Shough.
Shough is a 25-year-old, seventh-year senior coming out of Louisville, his third school after three years at Oregon and another three at Texas Tech. He wasn't even on the NFL radar until this past season. Despite all of that, New Orleans made him the third quarterback off the board after Miami's Cam Ward and Ole Miss's Jaxson Dart.
There's almost no logical reasoning behind this, unless we're missing something that's being kept from the general public. Daniel Jeremiah had Sanders 20th on his big board and Shough at 75. Pro Football Focus had Sanders at 45 and Shough at 133. The Ringer went with Sanders at 27 and Shough at 84.
Consensus shows that Sanders was far and above the much better prospect. Maybe Kellen Moore was infatuated with Shough. Perhaps Sanders turned teams off significantly in the predraft process, well beyond what we know. More likely than not, though, this choice was about one thing: controversy.
Throughout his collegiate career playing under his father, Deion Sanders, Shedeur became quite the polarizing prospect. His tape was far from perfect, but his quotes and confidence belonged to someone who was a clear number one pick. The noise around him only got louder pre-draft when he declined to participate at the combine.
So, rather than roll the dice on a better prospect in Sanders and invite all of the media attention, both negative and positive, the Saints opted instead to reach for Tyler Shough. What does this mean for the Pelicans?
Zion Williamson has been a hot topic since he entered the NBA out of Duke. Between his health concerns and the never-ending campaign to "free" him from New Orleans's small market, there's always controversy surrounding Big Z. The Pelicans brass was already reportedly looking to trade him, going so far as to hand down a mandate to their new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars to deal Zion away.
For what it's worth, it's been said that Dumars is trying to keep Zion in NOLA and has had productive talks with his new franchise cornerstone regarding the future. But, if the Saints and their draft are any indicator of what the Pelicans are going to do this offseason, it seems like Zion Williamson and all of the controversy surrounding him are soon to be out the door.