LSU has seen several of its football players go on to be celebrated and recognized for their abilities in the NFL, but there are also several other who have been quietly effective or just haven’t gotten the type of credit that’s due to them.
Touchdown Wire took the time to recognize two of those players in Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson and Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth — both of which took the field in Baton Rouge at one point — as some of the league’s most underrated offensive players.
The network’s Doug Farrar noted the significant numbers Jefferson has put up during his rookie season.
Since the NFL’s 1970 merger, only five players have posted more receiving yards in their first seven games than Jefferson’s 563: Anquan Boldin, Odell Beckham Jr., Marques Colston, Stefon Diggs, and Amari Cooper. That Jefferson has done that with just 31 catches, and with a quarterback in Kirk Cousins who needs his GPS replaced several times a game, is pretty impressive. Primarily a slot receiver at LSU, Jefferson has proven to have every asset you want in a primary outside receiver — tremendous route understanding and awareness, the ability to combine speed and leverage, and a real knack for making the contested catch. The Vikings have wisely decided to re-create their offense around the run game in the second half of the season, but when Jefferson does get the ball, watch out.
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As for Whitworth, offensive lineman don’t typically get a lot of credit as it is, but the amount he’s done to propel an offense is notable and should not go unnoticed.
Whitworth will turn 39 on December 12, and he’s played both guard and tackle in his NFL career (which goes back to 2006) at an exceedingly high level. He’s continued that into his 15th NFL season, allowing no sacks, no quarterback hits, and six quarterback hurries in 316 pass-blocking snaps. He’s also still a plus run-blocker who has experienced a bit of a performance renaissance over the last two seasons — since the beginning of 2019, per Pro Football Focus, he’s given up just one sack in 1.026 pass-blocking snaps. There are few more fundamentally sound offensive linemen in Whitworth’s era, and it will be interesting to see how his Hall of Fame discussion goes five years after he retires — whenever that may be.
Stay tuned to watch how both players continue to contribute as Jefferson plays his next game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, and Whitworth’s Rams take on the Seattle Seahawks next week.
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