LSU NFL Draft: Best fit, sleeper pick and more

The LSU football program had six players selected in the 2023 NFL Draft, and now that the dust has settled on the three-day event, there’s a more clear view of what the future looks like for the former Tigers.

The Rankings Hit

BJ Ojulari – Arizona Cardinals – Round 2

Ojulari was ranked as high as the No. 52 prospect in the country coming out of high school in Georgia. Three seasons later, he was the No. 41 overall selection in the NFL Draft. And while recruiting rankings are far from an exact science, pegging down Ojulari’s value wasn’t too tough. His older brother, Azeez Ojulari, had signed with the Georgia Bulldogs. Ojulari was a star at Marietta High, and he routinely faced some of the state’s top competition while playing both defensive end and offensive tackle. His testing was elite in high school, and it was well known that he carried himself well off the field. That ultimately proved true when he was named both LSU’s team captain and awarded the No. 18 jersey, which is handed out to a player that exemplifies the team and leadership. Ojulari was the total package coming out of high school, and he backed up his high school ranking by coming off the board in the Top 50 picks of the draft.

The Best Fit

Anthony Bradford – Seattle Seahawks – Round 4

Seattle has talented young players at offensive tackle in Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, but the Seahawks are looking for longterm solutions on the interior – specifically at the two guard spots. Former LSU offensive lineman Damien Lewis returns as the starting left guard, while Phil Haynes is at right guard. But neither are under contract beyond next season, which could give Bradford the chance to lock in a future role as a starter. The hope for LSU fans is that Bradford wins the job at right guard and the Seahawks keep Lewis on roster at left guard. The pair were teammates at LSU during the 2019 National Championship season. Bradford has versatility playing both guard spots and tackle at the SEC level, and he’s a dominant force in the run game. Seattle needed offensive linemen in the 2023 draft, and Bradford was the lone guard Pete Carroll and Co. selected with the franchise’s 10 picks.

The Potential Steal

Jaquelin Roy – Minnesota Vikings – Round 5

There’s plenty of people who feel Roy still has his best football well in front of him. He was one of the nation’s best defensive linemen coming out of University High in Baton Rouge, and he joined the Tigers during the COVID season in 2020. By his sophomore season, Roy was starting to make waves, and he broke through in a big way with double-digit starts this past season. The Vikings clearly liked something up Roy given the front office traded up 17 spots to use the No. 141 pick on Roy. Minnesota had a need on the interior of the defensive line, and with just six picks in this year’s draft, Roy was the lone defensive lineman the Vikings selected. That should bode well for his chances at cracking into the rotation next season.

The Sleeper Pick

Jay Ward – Minnesota Vikings – Round 4

It seems like another lifetime ago that Ward was seeing key reps as a true freshman during LSU’s National Championship season in 2019. Four years later, the versatile defensive back is officially an NFL Draft pick after going No. 134 overall to the Vikings. And there’s connections here that shed some additional light on the pick. Daronte Jones, who coached Ward as LSU’s defensive coordinator in 2021, is Minnesota’s defensive backs coach. It’s also worth noting that LSU cornerbacks coach Robert Steeples, who helped coach Ward in Baton Rouge this past season, was an assistant with the Vikings a year ago. Ward has started games at cornerback, nickel and safety during his time at LSU. He could certainly turn in a Jalen Mills-type NFL career as he works from a rotational piece into a potential starter down the line.

The Depth Play

Jarrick Bernard-Converse – New York Jets – Round 6

When teams get into the final rounds of the NFL Draft, front offices typically like to make moves to build up positional depth. For the Jets, that’s where Bernard-Converse came into the picture. New York was looking to build depth in the secondary this offseason, and Bernard-Converse was the lone defensive back the Jets drafted with the franchise’s five picks. There weren’t many defensive backs in the draft pool with his experience, which included stops at Oklahoma State and LSU and a resume that includes 64 career games, 56 starts and 228 career tackles. He also started games at both safety and cornerback, and his Pro Day showing was arguably the best of any LSU player in this year’s draft pool. He might not be a starter, but Bernard-Converse can play a role on special teams and work into a rotation in the defensive backfield.

The Boom or Bust Pick

Kayshon Boutte – New England Patriots – Round 6

There’s a variety of opinions here, but the biggest issue that led to Boutte’s fall down draft boards was medical concerns. Yes, there was a lack of production in 2022 and some rough testing numbers at the NFL Combine, but both those things can be tied back to a season-ending injury in 2021 that required multiple surgeries and left Boutte short of feeling 100-percent ahead of his final season in Baton Rouge. Don’t forget, the former five-star prospect was putting down some of the nation’s top track times in high school, he set the SEC single-game record for receiving yards as a true freshman (308 yards vs. Ole Miss) and he led the nation in touchdowns before he suffered a season-ending injury just short of the halfway point of the 2021 season. If Boutte can find a way to get back to the player he was before suffering the broken ankle, the Patriots will have one of the steal’s of the draft given the LSU receiver was once viewed as a likely first-round pick.

LSU Undrafted Free Agents

WR: Jaray Jenkins (Jacksonville Jaguars)
OL: Tre’Mond Shorts (invited to Falcons Rookie Mini-Camp)
DL: Ali Gaye (Houston Texans)
LB: Micah Baskerville (Chicago Bears), Mike Jones Jr. (Atlanta Falcons)
DB: Mekhi Garner (Philadelphia Eagles), Colby Richardson (Carolina Panthers), Sevyn Banks, Todd Harris, Joe Foucha

There were 10 draft-eligible LSU players who were not selected in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Undrafted free agents have the ability to choose a landing spot based off contract offers that will be handed out as early as Saturday evening.

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