Six months ago, the 2026 NFL Draft was considered a class rife with starting quarterback talent. Teams made moves in the 2025 NFL Draft to acquire extra selections to potentially trade up for a passer of their choice.
Half a year later and there’s a whole lot of question marks after QB1.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft. After that, the rankings are unclear after many highly-touted prospects struggled in 2025.
Texas’ Arch Manning returned to school after an inconsistent first year as a starter with the Longhorns. Oregon’s Dante Moore and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers returned as well.
One quarterback who had first-round ambitions last summer is making his case to be the next passer selected after Mendoza: LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier.
The Tigers quarterback returned to Baton Rouge last fall looking to lead the program to a national championship. It didn’t pan out as planned – Nussmeier missed much of the season with a nagging injury.
That hasn’t stopped him from making strides in the last month on his journey to the next level.
Falling short of expectations
Nussmeier took over for Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in 2024 for the Tigers and put on a show. He led the SEC in completions (337) and attempts (525) throwing for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns. A three-game losing streak to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida knocked LSU out of playoff contention but the team still finished well with a 44-31 win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl, where Nussmeier earned MVP honors.
Turnovers were Nussmeier’s biggest knock from the 2024 season. He threw a conference-high 12 interceptions and gained a reputation for a gunslinger who took risks.
“Nussmeier needs to do a better job of protecting the football and improving his accuracy on drive throws,” NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah wrote last summer. “These two issues are connected. I love his willingness to attack tight windows, but when tries to generate extra velocity, his ball sails, leading to turnovers.”
It was far from all bad, though. There was plenty to like from Nussmeier in 2024 like his processing, command at the line of scrimmage and touch on deep ball throws.
Another offseason to develop could iron out some of those knocks. Those hopes took a hit on the second day of fall camp when he suffered a core injury that stuck with him through the new year.
“How much did it affect me, I think it was pretty evident,” Nussmeier said. “I really wasn’t able to throw the football. I had a stabbing pain in my [abdomen] every time I went to go throw the football.”
Nussmeier was visibly not playing up to his standard. He had a solid start in the Tigers’ win over Clemson in the season opener, but struggled in Week 3 against Florida at home. A loss to Ole Miss and then a season-high two interceptions against South Carolina set the redshirt senior quarterback behind. All the while his core injury persisted.
“Not being able to use your core as a quarterback, it’s pretty tough,” Nussmeier said. “So I had created many different habits whether it was arm angles or things with my feet to try and turn around my hips instead of my abs, things like that.”
Nussmeier was benched in the Tigers’ Week 9 loss to Texas A&M. LSU coach Brian Kelly was fired a day later. He’d return to the lineup in Week 11 against Alabama, but was benched once again in favor of backup Michael Van Buren.
‘As we discussed as a staff, we knew there could be opportunities in the quarterback run game,’ interim coach Frank Wilson said after the game. ‘(Alabama) would make it more difficult sitting in the pocket. We wanted to move (Van Buren) around and do some things. I thought that he gave us a chance to do those things.”
Van Buren saw out the rest of the season as the starter but Nussmeier remained a key member of the team.
“He is the leader of this team,’ Tigers linebacker Whit Weeks said. ‘He’s No. 18, and that’s for a reason. That dude is a stud. Mentally, all he goes through, I don’t know how he does it. He’s a true definition of a leader, and I love him for that.’
Nussmeier’s final year in Baton Rouge, Louisiana wrapped up with him completing 194 of 288 passes for 1,927 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He understood he could’ve declared for the NFL Draft last year but prioritized a run that ultimately fell short.
“Choosing to stay at LSU, ultimately, because I had another opportunity I thought to try and lead us to a national championship and that was my dream,” he said.
Family ties
After the season ended, Nussmeier set to work getting ready for the pre-draft process, starting with a correct diagnosis on his abdominal injury.
“We weren’t exactly able to figure out what it was,” Nussmeier said about the injury. “It wasn’t LSU’s fault, it wasn’t the doctors’ fault. They did a great job of taking care of me and the trainers there. It was just a rare deal. It was just a thing that we didn’t figure out what it was until about two months ago.”
That allowed him some time to prepare for a marquee event leading up to the NFL Draft: The Senior Bowl.
Nussmeier said he had about nine days to prepare after properly rehabilitating his core. He showed out in the quick turnaround and earned Senior Bowl MVP honors. He completed 5 of 8 passes for 57 yards and an interception off of a dropped pass and had a three-yard rushing touchdown.
“Ball is ball at the end of the day,” Nussmeier said. “When I was there I wasn’t trying to prove anything.”
As a member of the American Team, he worked under coaches from the New Orleans Saints. That’s a familiar staff; his father, Doug, is the Saints’ offensive coordinator under coach Kellen Moore.
“My dad’s been huge for me, being able to lean on him throughout this entire process,” Nussmeier said. “He went through this as a player as well and now being around it for a while as a coach. It’s awesome to have him kind of set the blueprint out for me.”
Garrett Nussmeier mock drafts, best fits
For scouts and draft analysts, Nussmeier is a fascinating prospect. His 2024 tape showed flashes of NFL-caliber quarterback play with some issues to work out. His 2025 tape wasn’t as good but there was a now-resolved injury that hampered him throughout. With that in the rear view, he performed well at the Senior Bowl and settled into a great rhythm throwing at the NFL combine.
Questions still remain about Nussmeier’s durability given his leaner frame at 6-foot-2 and 203 pounds. Still, the talent and production is there for a team to develop.
One potential fit is the Pittsburgh Steelers under new head coach Mike McCarthy. Nussmeier’s father worked under McCarthy with the Dallas Cowboys from 2020 to 2022.
“I was the iPad kid on the sideline when I was in high school there (in Dallas),” he said. Got to spend a little time around coach McCarthy and really like him. He’s a great coach and somebody who is very passionate about winning, has his way of going about things and he believes in them. And I think he does a really great job.’
Nussmeier could end up there under Aaron Rodgers, who he named as one of his five top quarterbacks in the NFL today.
Some mock drafts have him landing elsewhere, such as the New York Jets in Round 2.
Regardless of where he ends up, Nussmeier’s confident in what he can bring to a franchise at the next level.
“Off the field is my leadership ability, my ability to get guys to play for me on the field,” he said. “It starts with relationships to me, just being able to get close to guys to know that you truly care about them… on the field, I think my anticipation and processing is special.”