Aaron Anderson's final college season ended three games early with a knee injury, and he still made All-SEC. That's the whole story in one sentence. The New Orleans product leaves LSU with one of the sharpest efficiency profiles in the SEC — and a professional contract to show for it.
Aaron Anderson's final college season ended three games early with a knee injury, and he still made All-SEC. That's the whole story in one sentence. The New Orleans product leaves LSU with one of the sharpest efficiency profiles in the SEC — and a professional contract to show for it.
Anderson's 2025 looked modest on paper: 33 catches for 398 yards, no touchdowns in nine games. But the play-by-play data tells a different story. He ranked at the 86th percentile in explosive target rate — meaning when the ball came his way, it went for chunk yardage. His EPA per target sat at the 72nd percentile. Those are legitimate separator numbers for a receiver playing through a knee issue in the SEC.
The 2024 season was the proof of concept: 61 receptions, 884 yards, five touchdowns, third in the SEC in catches. That version of Anderson is what NFL scouts were grading. A 4-star recruit out of Edna Karr in New Orleans, originally committed to Alabama before landing at LSU, he spent his college career becoming precisely the kind of efficient slot-style weapon that Baton Rouge needed.
Anderson declared for the 2026 NFL Draft and signed with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent. The forward stake now is conversion — whether the traits that made him a Biletnikoff watchlister and an All-SEC honoree in a shortened season are enough to carve out a professional role. The PBP percentiles say the tools are real.
PLAY STYLE
Anderson is an efficient, burst-over-bulk slot receiver whose value lives in the explosive plays he creates on limited targets. The 86th-percentile explosive target rate (top-tier among 427 qualified receivers) means defenders cannot let him get into his routes clean — he turns clean releases into 15-yard gains. His 72nd-percentile EPA per target confirms he is a net-positive play when targeted, not just a volume accumulator. At 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds out of New Orleans, he is a quick-twitch runner who wins at the top of routes and converts targets into first downs at a reliable clip, even when the touchdown rate (12th percentile in 2025, a sample-size artifact of a zero-TD injury-shortened season) does not reflect the underlying threat.
Career Arc
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-SEC
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Brian Kelly.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort
Concern: rec tds (6th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Awards
Selector Grid · 2025
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-SEC
Career stats
Traditional receiver line with season-by-season growth baked in.
Extra-touch value for all-purpose profiles.
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2025
W 17–10
at Clemson
6 rec · 99 yds
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 on the road.
Game log
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 8 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 17-10@ Clemson | 6 | 99 | 16.5 | 0 | 39 | Season-high 99 yds |
| Wk 2 | W 23-7vs Louisiana Tech | 8 | 73 | 9.1 | 0 | 23 | |
| Wk 3 | W 20-10vs Florida | 4 | 75 | 18.8 | 0 | 31 | |
| Wk 4 | W 56-10vs SE Louisiana | 3 | 46 | 15.3 | 0 | 25 | |
| Wk 5 | L 19-24@ Ole Miss | 2 | 12 | 6.0 | 0 | 7 | |
| Wk 8 | L 24-31@ Vanderbilt | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 0 | 18 | |
| Wk 9 | L 25-49vs Texas A&M | 5 | 59 | 11.8 | 0 | 22 | |
| Wk 11 | L 9-20@ Alabama | 4 | 16 | 4.0 | 0 | 9 | |
| Total | 33 | 398 | 12.4 | 0 | 39 |
How he plays
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort
Concern: rec tds (6th).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
PLAY STYLE
Anderson is an efficient, burst-over-bulk slot receiver whose value lives in the explosive plays he creates on limited targets. The 86th-percentile explosive target rate (top-tier among 427 qualified receivers) means defenders cannot let him get into his routes clean — he turns clean releases into 15-yard gains. His 72nd-percentile EPA per target confirms he is a net-positive play when targeted, not just a volume accumulator. At 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds out of New Orleans, he is a quick-twitch runner who wins at the top of routes and converts targets into first downs at a reliable clip, even when the touchdown rate (12th percentile in 2025, a sample-size artifact of a zero-TD injury-shortened season) does not reflect the underlying threat.
2026 Outlook
Returning to LSU for 2026
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Wide receiver · LSU · editorial
Returning around him
2026 Award watch
LSU · Last season: 7-6 (AP #20) · Talent rank #6 · 2026 recruiting class #10
Perception vs tape
Aaron Anderson's final college season ended three games early with a knee injury, and he still made All-SEC. That's the whole story in one sentence. The New Orleans product leaves LSU with one of the sharpest efficiency profiles in the SEC — and a professional contract to show for it.
Anderson's 2025 looked modest on paper: 33 catches for 398 yards, no touchdowns in nine games. But the play-by-play data tells a different story. He ranked at the 86th percentile in explosive target rate — meaning when the ball came his way, it went for chunk yardage. His EPA per target sat at the 72nd percentile. Those are legitimate separator numbers for a receiver playing through a knee issue in the SEC.
The 2024 season was the proof of concept: 61 receptions, 884 yards, five touchdowns, third in the SEC in catches. That version of Anderson is what NFL scouts were grading. A 4-star recruit out of Edna Karr in New Orleans, originally committed to Alabama before landing at LSU, he spent his college career becoming precisely the kind of efficient slot-style weapon that Baton Rouge needed.
Anderson declared for the 2026 NFL Draft and signed with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent. The forward stake now is conversion — whether the traits that made him a Biletnikoff watchlister and an All-SEC honoree in a shortened season are enough to carve out a professional role. The PBP percentiles say the tools are real.
Anderson is an efficient, burst-over-bulk slot receiver whose value lives in the explosive plays he creates on limited targets. The 86th-percentile explosive target rate (top-tier among 427 qualified receivers) means defenders cannot let him get into his routes clean — he turns clean releases into 15-yard gains. His 72nd-percentile EPA per target confirms he is a net-positive play when targeted, not just a volume accumulator. At 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds out of New Orleans, he is a quick-twitch runner who wins at the top of routes and converts targets into first downs at a reliable clip, even when the touchdown rate (12th percentile in 2025, a sample-size artifact of a zero-TD injury-shortened season) does not reflect the underlying threat.
DNA match
Player DNA
Reliable target who converts on critical downs. Not flashy; consistently productive.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Malik Washington’s 2021 season.
Malik Washington
Roderic Burns
Yusuf Ali
Mookie Cooper
Tyjon Lindsey
Matches Malik on
Differs from Malik on
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Malik Murray’s path through East Tennessee State.
Malik Murray
Julius Young
Darien Chase
Jarrod Barnes
Kobe Clark
Matches Malik on
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Mookie Cooper's junior season at Missouri (2023).
Mookie Cooper
Kam Thomas
Isaiah Sategna
Bobby Golden
Tyjon Lindsey
Matches Mookie on
Differs from Mookie on
Peer comparator
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Development
Development Trajectory · receiving yards
2023–2025Up 563% from first season to most-recent.