re: Anyone know Mason Smith’s draft position projection?

yes, I agree, he should come back and improve his draft stock by putting in the work next season. He is losing out on a lot of money by not improving his draft stock next season. Especially, with LSU bringing back coach Bo Davis, him and Mehki Wingo would have really benefitted from playing 1 season under coach Davis who would have improved both of them tremendously.

FA

A well considered opinion. Rare in these parts. Were it I, I would stay at LSU with all my focus on being other worldly dominant to get a top 10 pick. But that is just how I roll.

On the CBS Sports draft board, he is rated 65th and Wingo is 83rd. Smith is the 5th highest rated interior DL and Wingo is 7th.

CBS Sports draft rankings

tree fiddy

He has the size. Does he have the work ethic and the heart?
He has slow feet. Can he improve his speed? Yes, but he will still be slow. I know the guy had a hard time with his injury and I wish him well but I can't see him going before the 5th round.

4th at highest 7th at lowest. Can’t see him going undrafted.

If I had to put money on him, I’d bet 5th round.

With the 188th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft the New Orleans Saints select Maason Smith- The Louisiana State University

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What he's done not only screws LSU over

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it doesn't make much rational sense when you look at it from his point of view.

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If only you were capable of looking at it from his point of view, which you, admittedly, are not.

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Because most fans are fans of teams, not of individual people.

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You don’t give a shite about Maason Smith, why should he give a frick about you and what you want. If I had a devastating injury and busted my arse to come back only to get constantly shat on by the “fans” of the team I played for all season, I’d probably want to throw the deuces too. And go out shooting all you cocksuckers the bird while at it. He’s at least above that.

But, even though I would have loved him to come back and think he could have benefitted from it, I get why he left.

1) the cavalier assumption that he could come back and just easily walk into the 1st round (or top 10) next year is ridiculous. Could it happen? Sure. Would it? Probably not. And I can’t circle the square of the contradiction of y’all who think he’s good enough to be a 1st rounder if he comes back next year, but sucks so bad he’ll be lucky to get drafted this year. It can’t be both.

2) A lot of y’all are dismissing the very real possibility he could come back and get hurt again. Guys 6’5” 300 pounds get hurt. And after the devastation of missing an entire year already with a season-ending injury, imagine how devastating it’d be if he did it again. Then he’d have to come back for a FIFTH YEAR. Dude battled injuries as a freshman, missed his entire sophomore season, and played most of his junior season hurt. But at least he made it through it and can take advantage of being healthy for all the pre-draft stuff.

3) He’s still an young unknown with tons of untapped potential and the “excuses” of his play this year being due to both not being fully recovered from his knee injury and literally not having a position coach. There’s a lot there for teams to really like and think they can mold. What if he comes back and stays healthy, but still doesn’t dominate? A year older, another year removed from his knee injury, and a year under the daily coaching of the guy considered one of the best DL coaches in college football. All of a sudden, he’s not as exciting, not a shiny unwrapped present, not a block of unlimited potential of clay to be molded, he is more who he is.

3) I don’t think he’s making as much in NIL as a lot of you think. And if you think he sucks—and I will certainly grant he wasn’t very good this year at all—how much money do you think he was being offered to come back? And who was lining to pony that bag up?

I bet it was a really hard decision for him, and I could see an argument for each. But coming back was a much bigger gamble than most of you in this thread concede. And I don’t hold it against him for not taking it and going ahead with the safer decision of leaving while he’s currently healthy. And I, for one, will be rooting like hell for him that it works out.

Free agent signing. Practice squad.