LSU Football: The most popular mock draft destination for Justin Jefferson

LSU football wide receiver Justin Jefferson is expected to go in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

The 2020 NFL draft will get underway on Thursday night and LSU football is expected to have up to 16 players selected in total.

If 16 Tigers are drafted this year, it would break the all-time record for most players selected in the draft from one program (breaking the previous record of 14, set by Ohio State in 2004).

(The current SEC record for most players selected in one draft is 12, set by Alabama in 2018.)

One of the LSU players that I’m most interested to see in the NFL is wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

I think Jefferson is going to have a tremendous professional career. He’s a complete wide receiver who has great ball skills, runs great routes and proved at the combine that he has enough speed to excel in the NFL (he ran a 4.43 in the 40 yard dash).

There are still some outlets — Pro Football Focus for example — who are on the fence about Jefferson. And it’s his ability to separate from defenders on vertical routes that seems to be the main issue. Jefferson played mostly from the slot in 2019, so it’s hard to tell how he’ll fare in that role in the NFL (he didn’t do so well on the outside as a sophomore in 2018 at LSU, but Jefferson was young and finding his footing in college football).

Even with the speed question still lingering over Jefferson, he’s still expected to be a first round pick. And most recent mock drafts have the former LSU standout landing with the same team.

The overwhelming favorite to draft Jefferson has been the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 21.

Philadelphia desperately needs a wide receiver. Currently, they have Alshon Jeffery (who just had lisfranc surgery in December), DeSean Jackson (33 years old and missed 13 games in 2019 after having surgery to repair a core muscle injury) and JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Greg Ward (who?).

Jefferson would certainly be a welcome addition to the Eagles’ offense. Carson Wentz obviously needs some help there.

For now, Jefferson is expected to be the fourth wide receiver off the board, after Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb and Alabama’s duo of Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs. If the Eagles stay at No. 21, then it seems fairly likely they’ll be in a strong position to land Jefferson.

But if the Eagles trade up to land one of those first three wide receivers, then it throws this whole prediction out the window. At that point, it’s anyone’s guess as to where Jefferson would land.

The only thing certain heading into the draft is that a NFL team is going to get an incredible bargain by drafting Jefferson. This kid is going to be a stud at the next level.