LSU football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

Amidst the great success of LSU football in the 2000s was a long list of great defensive linemen. And while Dorsey was one player who came through Baton Rouge, dominated, but then never realized his full potential in the NFL, it was the one-year young Tyson Jackson that came behind him and followed a similar path.

Though Jackson played limited snaps as a redshirt freshman, he was still named a Freshman All-SEC player in his first time seeing action for the Tigers. The following season in 2006, he earned a starting job and showed out well as a defensive end, registering 8.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss, which earned him Second-Team All-SEC honors.

Returning for the following year as a redshirt junior, Jackson and the Tigers enjoyed great success. Though his production dipped with 3.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss, he was a key cog as LSU won the BCS National Championship. Coming back for his senior year, Jackson was again named Second-Team All-SEC with 4.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss.

Finishing eighth all-time at LSU with 18.5 career sacks, the NFL hype was real for Jackson as he was selected No. 3 overall by the Kansas City Chiefs. While he played in 74 games over five seasons, he never lived up to that draft hype. His career-high in tackles was just 55 and he had only 9.0 sacks over 122 career games in eight seasons. He finished his career in 2016 after the Falcons released him before the fourth year of a five-year contract.