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LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier was not healthy the entire 2025 college season.
And we are talking entire season – he suffered an abdominal injury before the Tigers’ 2025 season even began.
“The injury occurred on day two of fall camp last season,” Nussmeier told NFL Network. “Really any time I went to throw the football, there was a stabbing pain in my ab. We actually didn’t know what it was either throughout the entire year. That’s not the trainer’s fault. That’s not the doctor’s fault. It was just kind of a rare deal. I have discussed with the teams what the actual injury was now that we have the real diagnoses. All the teams have that information. I won’t release that publicly, but it was a rare deal. It was a frustrating deal.”
This creates an intriguing possibility for the Jets in the middle rounds.
If they truly believe his issues last year were injury-related, then he could make a perfect pick for them at the top of the fourth round, which seems like a good spot to take a flyer on him.
Nussmeier felt he was back to his old self at his March 23 Pro Day in Baton Rouge.
“I was grateful to be able to go out there and show that I’m back a little bit,” Nussmeier said following his Pro Day. “That I can make any throw out there and do it at a high level.”
The first team meeting he had following that Pro Day was with the Jets.
Nussmeier has been training at a noted QB training facility in California, working on getting his mechanics back to where they were prior to the injury. To throw the ball with the injury, he had to stray from ideal mechanics.
“I’ve been out in California with ‘3D QB’ just retraining everything from the ground up,” Nussmeier said. “I mean I created so many bad habits trying to throw the football just to get it out of my hand. It was tough. To be blunt. I really couldn’t throw the ball this year.
“It’s been a grind, but it’s also been a good thing for me as well polishing up my mechanics and preparing me for this next level.”
But fighting through the adversity last year is something that Nussmeier feels will help him taking the step to the NFL level.
“I’m very thankful to have gone through it, as crazy as that sounds,’ Nussmeier said. “I feel like because of what I went through this year, I don’t know if there is anything that is going to be able to phase me going to this next level.”
Nussmeier feels his 2024 tape at LSU is more of who he truly is as a QB than last year. That season he threw 29 TDs to 12 interceptions. If he came out, he could have easily been a second-round pick in the 2025 draft.
“I just want the opportunity to show I belong in this league,” Nussmeier said. “I just want to be able to prove that the Garrett Nussmeier that everyone saw in 2024 is still Garrett Nussmeier. I’m still that player. Just because an injury stopped me from showing that this year doesn’t mean I’m not going ot get back to being me. I just want an opportunity to be able to show that.”
However, what NFL teams, obviously including the Jets, need to discern is whether Nussmeier’s struggles last year were just about the abdominal injury, and there weren’t other factors.
For instance:
“Nussmeier is inconsistent in diagnosing coverages and working through progressions, which limits his ability to counter what defenses show him,” wrote NFL Network draft analyst Lance Zierlein.
If that is indeed an issue, that has little to do with whether you have a healthy abdomen or not.
But picking him at the top of the fourth round, to kick the tires on a potential starting QB, with good bloodlines (his father Doug was a former NFL QB, who is now the New Orleans Saints OC), could be the sweep spot for the Jets to roll the dice on him, if they truly believe his issues last year were injury related.
April 16, 2026
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