How LSU star’s season-ending injury affects his NFL dreams

On Monday, LSU head coach Brian Kelly revealed that Tigers linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. will miss the remainder of the 2024 season after suffering an ACL injury during the team’s win over UCLA this past Saturday.

The news is not only disappointing for LSU’s defense, but for Perkins himself. Many have believed the junior linebacker would forgo his senior season with the Tigers and enter the 2025 NFL Draft.

Before the start of the 2024 season, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Perkins as the No. 20 prospect on his 2025 NFL Draft big board. The LSU linebacker appeared to be on his way to potentially getting selected in the opening round of next year’s draft.

But with his recent injury, those dreams might have to be put on hold.

Following the news, Brugler shared that if Perkins were to still declare for the 2025 NFL Draft, he believes “a fall into Day Two is now likely.”

Essentially, The Athletic draft analyst doesn’t think the Tigers linebacker is a first-round prospect after his knee injury, and at best, he would be drafted in the second or third round next year.

However, the chances of Perkins returning to LSU for his senior season are now much higher after his unfortunate injury this past Saturday. When asked during his news conference on Monday about the young defender’s future at the school, Kelly didn’t want to speculate just yet.

“It’s way too soon for him or his family to have made any kind of declaration on whether this is his last game or not. I think they are just trying to get hold of the surgery and the rehab associated with it. He will take all that into consideration. And when it’s time to make a decision, he will make a decision.

“Certainly, he has plenty of time before he has to make that decision.”

In this day and age of college football, with players able to earn money through NIL deals, the desperation to leave school as soon as possible for the NFL isn’t as high as it once was.

Someone in a situation like Perkins can now make a decision that is based on what is actually best for their future in football instead of the choice being one that mainly centers around finances.

If Perkins elects to remain at LSU for another season, he won’t have to rush his recovery process in order to impress pro scouts before the 2025 draft. He can just focus on preparing to be ready in time for the start of the 2025 campaign with the Tigers.

Becoming a first-round pick in the NFL Draft could still be in the cards for the LSU linebacker, but it might just require him to take a different path than what he had anticipated before suffering his knee injury.