LSU has more than a few players who could be selected in the first couple of rounds of the NFL draft this spring.

Trey’Dez Green and Jordan Seaton are on track to be first-round picks. A strong finish to the season also could land Ty Benefield near the first round, while TJ Dottery, Jordan Ross and Jackson Harris have boosted their draft stock since the beginning of the year.

To preview where LSU’s top prospects could land on draft day, The Advocate spoke with three draft analysts — Fran Duffy of ALLCITY Network, Todd McShay of The Ringer and Dane Brugler of The Athletic — to dissect what they’ve seen from LSU’s 2027 draft prospects not named Sam Leavitt.

Read the experts’ thoughts on Leavitt and his 2027 draft decision here.

Green’s talent

Ask Brugler which LSU prospect stands out most to NFL scouts, and he doesn’t hesitate to answer Green.

At 6-foot-7 and 242 pounds, Green’s size and physicality stand out, but he also has the speed to run past linebackers and the ball skills of a wide receiver. He’s also younger than most draft-eligible tight ends, not turning 21 until February.

Brugler believes he’s a first-round talent. McShay thinks he’s the best tight end in the draft.

“Trey’Dez Green is in a different class,” McShay said. “As a guy who got a late start on playing tight end and developing into his physique, the growth I've seen from him over the last two, two and a half years has been pretty cool to see.”

For an athlete who grew up primarily as a basketball player, Brugler is impressed by Green’s physicality and how seamlessly he's transitioned to the gridiron.

“Just in terms of temperament and physicality, he doesn't look like a basketball player on the football field. He looks like he belongs,” Brugler said. “And when you're a guy that has that type of size, but also (has) the flexibility and body fluidity to run routes, make these easy adjustments on the football and go make plays, he’s a mismatch waiting to happen.”

Duffy is not sold on Green as a blocker. He isn’t sure Green can become a true “two-way” tight end, but he doesn’t think Green is helpless as a blocker, either.

“I think as a blocker, you’re going to have to get a little bit creative with him,” Duffy said. “I think a lot of it will be similar to what we saw with the Kyle Pitts conversation when he was coming out of Florida a few years ago.”

Brugler believes that Green clears the bar as a tight end who isn’t a blocking liability.

“You can tell how hard he works at it,” Brugler said. “This isn’t a guy who just wants to be a pass catcher. He gets involved at the second level. He gets involved with split-zone and just different ways that he can get his hands on guys.

“He doesn’t have to be the best blocker out there. He doesn’t have to be (San Francisco 49ers star) George Kittle. I think the thing for him is just lose slowly. That’s all he needs to do. Engage, rework your hands, stay low and lose slowly.”

Seaton's ceiling

Seaton heads into this year’s draft as likely the class's most talented offensive tackle, but the Colorado transfer still needs to refine the rough edges of his game, namely his handwork and technique.

“Seaton's been up and down, I'll be honest,” McShay said. “There's been a couple of tapes that are frustrating, but I still think he's a first-round tackle.”

Seaton’s size, length and movement skills put him in rare air as an athlete at left tackle. Brugler believes his raw athleticism has allowed him to “get away with things” that other tackles can’t.

He hasn’t allowed a sack in his first eight games at LSU, according to Pro Football Focus.

“I think now it's just about fine-tuning, using his hands, using leverage, the hand placement, the timing,” Brugler said, “I think it's things that a lot of young tackles struggle with. It's just being more precise.”

Seaton doesn’t lack nastiness or aggression as a blocker, but Brugler doesn’t always see him exhibit those valuable traits. Seaton has also been labeled as a tackle who isn’t a consistent run blocker.

But given his athleticism and the flashes of potential on tape, it would be a big surprise if Seaton wasn’t picked in the first round this spring.

“What’s the coachable and what’s the uncoachable?” Duffy said. “He has all the uncoachable stuff. All of the stuff you can’t teach is there with Seaton.”

Harris’ rise

Six months ago, few people outside LSU knew anything about Harris, a Hawaii transfer and wide receiver who put up big numbers for the Rainbow Warriors last fall but played sparingly at Stanford in two seasons before that.

But after eight weeks at LSU, Harris has positioned himself as a weapon who could be picked in the first three rounds of the draft this spring.

“What I like the most about him is just how well-rounded he is,” Brugler said. “He can win in different ways.

“One play, I see your size, your play strength, your physicality. The next it’s speed where you can catch it without breaking stride, and Auburn has a secondary full of athletes, and none of them are catching you.”

Beyond Miami’s Malachi Toney and Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, McShay believes Harris has been one of the most productive wide receivers in the country, despite a slow start this season.

“Six-foot-two, 205 (pounds), looks like he runs a sub-4.5 (40-yard dash),” McShay said. “And he has been an absolute playmaker.”

Brugler is already willing to put Harris in the same tier as Ole Miss’ Deuce Alexander, Alabama’s Ryan Coleman-Williams and Tennessee’s Mike Matthews as wideouts who could be taken in the second or third round, despite Harris’ relatively brief track record of success.

“Jackson Harris was not somebody that was on the forefront of my mind or someone that was really on my radar,” Brugler said. “But credit to him for forcing people to take notice and say, ‘Hey, don’t forget about me.’ ”

Benefield’s stock

Benefield was one of the bigger names LSU added out of the transfer portal last winter. And through eight games this season, the safety and Boise State transfer has lived up to the hype.

“Ty Benefield’s a dude,” McShay said. “There’s a lot of good safeties. There’s like five of them who could go in the first 50 picks, but he’s one of them.”

Benefield has the size, speed and tackling capabilities to play as a big nickel cornerback in the NFL. As slot receivers have gotten bigger at the next level, Benefield has the size and speed to cover them while also helping in the run game.

Because of his physicality, defenses can play with five defensive backs against the run or pass when he’s on the field.

“I do think there's versatility there too, where if you do want him to drop him and let him play the boundary (as a deep safety), he has the range to do that too,” Brugler said.
“But I do think that that big nickel role is kind of where he fits best.”

Evaluators know Benefield is currently playing out of position at star in defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s defense. LSU moved him down from safety to star after Dashawn Spears tore his ACL in Week 3.

Benefield has held his own at his new position, but NFL teams already had a good sense of who he is as a prospect before he changed positions.

“I give him credit for making the adjustments and being a certain level of talent where the coaches trust you that, ‘Hey, we need to move you for the betterment of the team,’ and he's able to do that,” Brugler said. “I think ultimately, it's not like it's anything that's going to hurt him.”

Dottery's prospects

Evaluators who speak with Brugler say that Dottery has outplayed scouts’ expectations this season. He believes the linebacker could become a mid-round pick this spring as a fifth-year senior.

McShay has also been encouraged by what he’s seen from Dottery this season, even if he believes that the Ole Miss transfer isn’t the best athlete on the field.

“He doesn’t have the elite, elite traits you look for, in a league that’s looking for those long off-ball linebackers,” McShay said. “But he’s going to be a guy that finds a way to play in the league for a while.”

Whit Weeks, Dottery’s partner in crime at linebacker, hasn’t put much on tape this season for evaluators since suffering another lower-body injury against Texas A&M in Week 4. Before last season, ESPN projected Weeks as a mid-round pick, but last year’s ankle injury and this season’s lower-body ailment have muddied his draft stock.

A player who has impressed Duffy is edge rusher Jordan Ross. He believes the Tennessee transfer could be a top-100 pick, depending on how he performs against LSU’s tougher competition over the next few weeks.

“There's a reason why this guy was so highly regarded coming out of high school, with his size, with his traits,” Duffy said. “I am intrigued by what I've seen, but I still want to get a little bit of a better sample moving forward.”

Ross’ partner in crime on the edge, Princewill Umanmielen, has been one of the country's most productive pass rushers. He’s second in the SEC and third in the country in sacks with 8.5, and McShay has been impressed with how the Ole Miss transfer has diversified his pass-rushing moves.

“He’s really developed a plan as a pass rusher and tying his hands and feet together,” McShay said. “He’s got that torso flexibility and bend that you need.”

But as dangerous as he is as a pass rusher, concerns about his size — 6-foot-4, 254 pounds — and his ability to hold up as a run defender at the next level will likely keep him out of the top rounds.

Umanmielen’s draft fate could mirror his brother Princely’s, whom the Carolina Panthers selected in the third round in 2025 because of similar size concerns.

“You start getting into the one-trick pony aspect of things,” Duffy said. “Are you really a two-way player? Are you going to be able to hold up against the run in the NFL with the way that things are trending?”