5 best LSU football players from the last 10 years

LSU football’s had a plethora of talent come through Baton Rouge over the last 10 years.

LSU football’s had a litany of great players over the last 10 years.

Anytime you watch an NFL game, you’ll likely see multiple former LSU players on the field. That’s just the kind of talent that ends up in Baton Rouge.

And next year, there will be even more LSU flavor in the NFL. The Tigers sent 16 players to the draft combine earlier this offseason. 16. That’s insane (and it’s also a record).

With all of the great players have played at LSU, it was extremely hard to come up with the five best former Tigers of the last 10 years.

In fact, this list could’ve been the 10 best former LSU players over the last 10 years.

But I like hard decisions. And some of these decisions were really hard.

Take the first player on my list, Jamal Adams, for example. I could’ve easily left him out of the top five and I don’t think anyone would’ve blinked an eye. But I felt like he deserved the recognition, which meant another great player (several great players, actually) had to be left off the list.

Anyway, here are the five best LSU players from the last 10 years.

Jamal Adams — DB (2014-2016)

Jamal Adams is easily one of the best defensive backs in program history. He played in every game as a true freshman. And he started every game his final two seasons in Baton Rouge.

Adams was a key part of LSU’s outstanding top 10 defenses in 2015 and 2016. The numbers he produced on the field (209 career tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, five sacks) were incredible for a defensive back. But the swagger he provided is what really made Adams special.

The former five-star recruit brought an attitude to the Tigers’ secondary that seemed to elevate the play of the entire unit. In 2015, LSU allowed only 17.2 points per game. In 2016, they were even better, allowing only 15.8 points per game. Adams was a big reason why the Tigers’ defense was elite.

Adams garnered plenty of accolades during his time at LSU. He was named to the All-Freshman team in 2014, the AP second team All-SEC in 2015 and the AP first team All-SEC in 2016.

It wasn’t much of a surprise that Adams was selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft by the New York Jets.