Scott

Tolzien

Per Schultz, Tolzien was considered a top candidate for the Steelers’ OC job under new head coach Mike McCarthy. Instead, he will stay with the Saints, helping to mentor Tyler Shough in his second season. While an OC gig would certainly hasten Tolzien’s rise toward a head coaching job, he has a great setup in New Orleans at the moment. Shough looks like a surprising hit at quarterback and Kellen Moore is a great coach to learn the ropes of calling an NFL offense under. If things go well for the Saints in 2026, Tolzien should get to choose his spot as an OC next year.

Tolzien joined the Saints for the 2025 season, but spent the previous five seasons with the Cowboys as a coaching assistant (2020 to 2022) and later as their QBs coach (2023 to 2024). His time with the Cowboys overlaps with Mike McCarthy’s tenure with the team, and he also spent three seasons with McCarthy while playing for the Packers. From a relationship standpoint, there’s a lot that makes sense about McCarthy’s interest in Tolzien, but this would be his first role as an offensive coordinator should he land the job, which could prove challenging given the current state of the Steelers’ roster.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes that Tolzien was on the Packers’ roster, as a quarterback, under current Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy. McCarthy also hired Tolzien as an offensive assistant with the Cowboys in 2020 and promoted him to quarterbacks coach in 2023, where he served for two seasons.

Tolzien, 37, who played quarterback in the NFL from 2013 to 2017, will join Kellen Moore’s staff in New Orleans. Tolzien was on the Dallas coaching staff with Moore two years ago. In New Orleans, Tolzien will work with Derek Carr to implement Moore’s offense after Moore led the Eagles offense to a productive season that ended with a Super Bowl championship. The Saints also added RB coach Joel Thomas, formerly of the Giants, to the coaching staff.

It’s an important distinction, as Harbaugh believes heavily in a competition. Kaepernick, Josh Johnson, and Scott Tolzien will battle for the second, third, and fourth spots while Smith is separate as the No. 1 quarterback. Kaepernick will have to outplay Johnson in training camp to be the fallback option should Smith stumble during the season.

Embellishment-prone coach Jim Harbaugh has insisted there’s a three-man competition between Kaepernick, Josh Johnson and Scott Tolzien to back up Smith, but predictably, that hasn’t appeared to be the case through the early days of Niners camp. The job is Kaepernick’s to lose.

Kaepernick’s gradually improving accuracy has been scattershot throughout camp, but Josh Johnson has been no better. Kaepernick’s 104 yards on four preseason rushing attempts suggests the 49ers would do well to include him in more special packages this season. Johnson is battling Scott Tolzien for the final quarterback spot.

Johnson suggested that the order of appearance in the game reflected the training camp depth chart. “Since I’ve gotten here, it’s pretty much been that order,” Johnson said. Colin Kaepernick appears to have a firm grip on the No. 2 job, and the coaching staff remains high on Scott Tolzien as the developmental QB. Johnson is on the roster bubble.

The Niners’ top two QBs are Alex Smith and rookie Colin Kaepernick. They’re going thin on the defensive line, perhaps because the Seahawks’ run game isn’t very intimidating. Of course, neither is Seattle’s passing “attack.”

McCoy was brought in to compete with Scott Tolzien. So far, the job has clearly been his. The 2008 Heisman Trophy runner-up has a 6-15 record and 58.3 completion percentage through three NFL seasons.