By Mark Pszonak
With the NFL season slowly coming to a conclusion, many of the season award finalists have been announced. This morning, the list for the AP Offensive Rookie Player of the Year was released by the league:
The finalists for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year! #NFLHonors pic.twitter.com/tsAvUDETvR
— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2025
All five players had fantastic 2024 seasons and quickly proved that they will be long-term stars in the NFL. But there is one similarity with three of the five finalists that is difficult to ignore. Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. all played their college football at LSU.
This means that all three played their final collegiate season in 2023. While the Tigers had a good season, finishing at 10-3 with losses to Florida State, Alabama and Ole Miss, with that kind of fire power, LSU fans are right to question head coach Brian Kelly.
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Opportunities to play a season with players of this caliber don’t come around very often, so it is vital to take advantage of it. Ironically, one recent example of a similar situation was in 2019, when Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase dominated. But there is one huge difference between the two trios. Burrow, Jefferson and Chase went undefeated and won a National Championship, while Daniels, Nabers and Thomas Jr. lost three games and won the ReliaQuest Bowl against Wisconsin.
And once again this is where Coach Kelly has every right to be critiqued. He wasn’t the LSU head coach in 2019, Ed Orgeron was. And if Coach Kelly was the head coach in 2019, would he have led the Tigers to a National Championship? That’s an interesting debate to have with your friends over a beer.
While Coach Kelly doesn’t have to worry about that debate, he should look back at the 2023 season and deeply regret the blown opportunity that LSU had.
