Stephen Lew
By Hunt Palmer
The NFL Combine on-field drills begin Thursday with the kickers, defensive linemen and linebackers.
Workouts will continue through Monday as the league draws the event out for television. No entity in America knows how to stay in the news cycle quite like the NFL. Still, it’s a big week for professional prospects, and LSU has 11 players headed north to participate in the meat market that is the Combine.
Mansoor Delane is already near the top of most draft boards, but he’ll still be there to talk to teams. His 10 teammates may have a little bit more on the line. Here’s one aspect of the combine that will be the most important for all 11 former Tigers.
Garrett Nussmeier, QB — The White Board
Nussmeier went a long way to proving his health at the Senior Bowl when he threw the longest pass at practice and produced the highest velocity among quarterbacks. Neither of those two throws were in his arsenal in 2025 because of the oblique injury he suffered in August. Now, he’s healthy. And they’ll determine that during the medical portion.
He’ll throw at Pro Day with his guys, but the arm talent is pretty obvious. He’s got a strong arm, and he’s not going to run a fast 40. Where he needs to excel is on the white board with the teams in private meetings. Nussmeier grew up in a football house and should have as good or better understanding of an offense as anyone in the class.
He’ll need to wow teams with a dry erase marker to add to his 2024 tape which does feature 4,000 yards worth of throws.
Aaron Anderson, WR — The Medical
Anderson was extremely productive in 2024. That’s on the tape. He was not in 2025. That’s because he was dealing with multiple injuries. He’s never going to be the tallest, and I’m not even sure he’s the fastest. The shuttle will help with change of direction. The fact is that two of his prime college seasons were essentially taken away due to injury.
He’ll need a clean physical to go with some solid test scores. With that and the production on tape, he’ll be a Day 2 pick.
Barion Brown and Chris Hilton, WR — The 40
I’m just grouping these two guys together. Sometimes you need to show you’ve worked on a weakness. Sometimes, you just need to show your strength. I asked former LSU strength coach Jake Flint to put together a 4×100 relay team with his 2025 roster. These two made the list with Jelani Watkins and Phillip Wright.
There is tape showing Hilton take the top off defenses. Brown broke off six kickoff return touchdowns in four years in the SEC. Go break 4.4 and let the NFL know you’re one of the elite speed guys in the draft class. Maybe in both cases, the elite speed guy in the draft.
Zavion Thomas, WR — 3 cone
Thomas is going to run a good time, but he won’t run with Hilton and Brown. And he’s not going to measure well. LSU listed him at 5-foot-10. What he can do is change direction extremely quickly. He showed that in his punt and kickoff return game as well as in the running game when LSU handed the ball to him 19 times in an anemic running game in 2025. Gaudy numbers and size aren’t going to get Thomas to an NFL field, but quickness and versatility could.
Bauer Sharp, TE — Catching Gauntlet
Sharp is pretty big, and he’s a good athlete who played quarterback at the FCS level. He’s got to catch the ball better than he did on tape. When they go through the position specific drills, he needs to catch everything in sight. Fumbling won’t be an issue at the combine. It was at times on the field. The NFL is still, for the most part, a passing league. Sharp needs to try to prove he fits in.
Patrick Payton, DE — Measurables
Though his last two seasons were not overly productive as a pass rusher, he did have 17 career college sacks. That’s pretty good production. He proved himself durable at LSU, too, playing in all 13 games. What will stand out about Payton is that his size appears legitimate on the field. If 6-foot-6, 255 pounds is real, that’s a feature in his cap. He’ll need to show on the field that he can bend, but some of that is already on tape. I think Payton’s size is his differentiator.
Jack Pyburn, DE — Position Specific Drills
Pyburn will be awesome in the meeting rooms. He was with media the one year he was in Baton Rouge. His tape is excellent against the run, and he’ll do well on the bench press. He has to show he can bend around those hula hoops to rush the passer. It just wasn’t really a part of his college game.
He’s worked hard at it, and he’s improved as a rusher. Kevin Peoples can do that. He doubled his career sack total at LSU. The problem is that it went from one over three years to two as a senior.
Harold Perkins Jr., LB — The White Board
Perkins is fast, and he’s got pass rush wins on tape. His problem is that he’s going to measure short and doesn’t really have a position. He needs to be able to explain to defensive coaches where he’s going to play and what his assignments are going to be.
Perkins’s best attribute is that he can rush the passer, run with backs, cover some around the line of scrimmage and get downhill. Being able to do all that means you need to understand all of those roles.
Mansoor Delane, CB — Measurements
I wouldn’t lace up a pair of cleats until minicamp if I were Delane. The tape is the tape. He’s fast enough, explosive enough and has the technical skills to play a season of SEC football allowing two first downs. Want to see me run? Turn on the tape. Want to see me change direction? Turn on the tape. Want to see one-on-one? Turn on the tape.
He’s listed at 6-foot. Hopefully that’s reasonably accurate. The only thing that would hurt is if he’s closer to 5-foot-10 or has short arms.
AJ Haulcy, S — The 40
Haulcy’s production has been phenomenal over three college stops. He made 24 tackles in a game as a freshman, led Houston in stops and finished second at LSU. He nabbed 10 interceptions and broke up 19 more passes over four years. He’s been durable and productive year-in-and-year-out.
He’s not going to measure tall, but he is very strong. What I don’t know is how fast he’ll run. If he can post a time right at 4.5, he’ll solidify his speed to go with the tape that shows him all over the field.
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