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Published Oct 23, 2024
NFLSU: Checking up on former Tigers in the league
Luke Hubbard  •  Death Valley Insider
Analyst
Twitter
@clukehubbard

The LSU Tigers are lighting up the NFL in 2024. Every week we continue to see huge play after huge play from the likes of Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Malik Nabers and other former Tigers.

Right now, I don't know if there's a school who has more stars in the league than LSU, so today, we're going to check-in on some former Tigers and see how they're all performing at the next level.

Jayden Daniels

One of the hottest names in football right now is Jayden Daniels. The Commanders second overall pick in this year's draft has taken the league by storm as a rookie and is proving why he won the Heisman in 2024.

Daniels broke the rookie single-game completion percentage record when he completed 91.3% of his passes in a week three win over Cincinnati, and just a game later he set the NFL record for best completion percentage by a quarterback through the first four weeks of a season (82.1%).

Unfortunately, Daniels injured his ribs early in their game against the Panthers this past Sunday, but he's expected to be week-to-week. Hopefully he'll be back soon and can continue to make his case for NFL Rookie of the Year.

Stats: 75.6% Completion percentage, 1,410 passing yards, 6 passing TDs, 2 INT, 372 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns

Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow's start to 2024 has been the best of his career, but unfortunately it's not getting the respect it deserves because of the Bengals horrid defense. Burrow currently ranks 6th in passing yards, fourth in passing touchdowns, fourth in completion percentage and has thrown just two interceptions.

The Bengals are averaging 25.4 points per game behind Burrow's guidance, but they still find themselves sitting at 3-4. Things should start to turn around as we get deeper in the season, but Burrow has been on fire through seven games.

Stats: 70.4% Completion percentage, 1,759 yards, 14 TDs, 2 INT, 91 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Justin Jefferson

I feel like Justin Jefferson is at the point in his career where he's so good that people just kind of forget about how well he's actually playing. I feel like I haven't heard much about him all year, but he's top-5 in receiving yards and touchdowns through seven games.

JJ is the gold standard of wide receivers in the NFL, and no matter how little you hear about him during the year, just know he's putting up numbers.

Stats: 33 receptions, 531 yards, 5 TDs, 16.1 YPC

Ja'Marr Chase

We just talked about the success of Joe Burrow through seven games, and the main beneficiary of that success has been Ja'Marr Chase. He currently leads the league in both receiving yards and touchdowns while also rankings 7th in receptions and averaging 15.9 yards per catch.

After somewhat of a down year in 2023, Chase has rebounded very nicely with Burrow under center, and they are arguably the best QB-WR duo in the entire league at this moment in time.

Stats: 39 catches, 620 yards, 6 TDs, 15.9 YPC

Malik Nabers

Malik Nabers got off to a blazing start to his NFL career. In his first four weeks, Nabers almost hit 400 receiving yards while seeing over 50 targets. He was on pace to break or come close to breaking pretty much every rookie receiving record, but a concussion in week four knocked him out of two games before he returned this weekend.

His return to the field wasn't too electric - he caught four passes for 41 yards - but there's no doubt in anybodies mind that he'll get back to his early season form soon enough.

Stats: 39 catches, 427 yards, 3 TDs, 10.9 YPC

Brian Thomas Jr.

Brian Thomas Jr. has also had an electric start to his NFL career, he's just done it in a quieter way than Nabers. It hasn't taken long for Thomas to become Trevor Lawrences' favorite target, but the reason he's flying under the radar is because of the Jags slow start.

Through seven games, Thomas ranks 6th in receiving yards, T-8th in receiving touchdowns and 10th in yards per catch. He's been an absolute animal early in the season, and his production should only ramp up as the year goes along.

Stats: 30 catches, 513 yards, 4 TDs, 17.1 YPC

Another interesting LSU WR stat for your Wednesday: Former LSU WRs are on pace to score 49 receiving touchdowns this season. If that holds, they would break their own record for most receiving touchdowns by a single school (38) in a single season. The Tigers also have four of the top-10 WRs in terms of yards per game and three of the top-10 in receiving touchdowns.

There's only one WRU, folks.

Derek Stingley Jr.

Derek Stingley has quietly been a very solid corner for the Texans in his brief NFL career. Since he was selected third overall in 2022, he has become one of the premier man-to-man corners in the league and is having a strong third-year with Houston. He's guarding some of the best WRs in the league and he still hasn't allowed 250 yards this year.

Stats: 57.9% completion percentage, 224 yards allowed, 1 TD allowed, 1 INT, 4 PBUs

Danielle Hunter

Danielle Hunter has been one of the best edge rushers in the NFL for a long time now, but just this offseason he moved on from Minnesota and joined the Houston Texans in hopes of winning a championship. Hunter has enjoyed a strong start to his Houston career and has provided their defense with the consistent pass rushing threat that they desperately were missing last year.

Stats: 3.5 sacks, 28 pressures, 18 hurries, 9 run stops

Tyrann Mathieu

One of the greatest players in LSU Football history has become one of the best safeties of this generation in the NFL. He's moved around from Arizona to Houston to Kansas City before coming back home to New Orleans a couple years ago.

Mathieu has had a couple good seasons in New Orleans, and has picked up right where he left off last season. At 32 years of age, he's still playing like he's in his mid-20s.

Stats: 28 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 2 INTs, 173 yards allowed

Patrick Queen

Patrick Queen became on of the better linebackers in the NFL last year with the Ravens. He and Roquan Smith formed possibly the best LB duo in the league, but after four years with the Ravens, Queen left to join their AFC North rival.

With the Steelers, Queen has become their LB1 and has enjoyed a strong start to the year, becoming one of the leaders of the Steelers defense that ranks second in points per game allowed (14.4).

Stats: 47 tackles, 9 run stops, 2 passes defended

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