{"id":84305,"date":"2020-04-04T11:30:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T15:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=84305"},"modified":"2021-03-20T09:01:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T13:01:23","slug":"john-simpson-2020-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/04\/04\/john-simpson-2020-nfl-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"John Simpson 2020 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>John Simpson Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Position: <\/strong>Interior Offensive Line<br \/>\n<strong>Height: <\/strong>6\u2019-4\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight:<\/strong> 321 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School: <\/strong>Clemson<\/p>\n<p><strong>NFL Combine Performance Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>40-Yard Dash<\/strong>: 5.24 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>Bench Press<\/strong>: 34 reps<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical Jump: <\/strong>30.0\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Broad Jump: <\/strong>107.0\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>3 Cone Drill: <\/strong>8.03 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>20 Yard Shuttle: <\/strong>4.87 seconds<\/p>\n<h2>John Simpson 2020 NFL Draft<\/h2>\n<p>After four seasons with the Clemson Tigers, interior offensive lineman <strong>John Simpson<\/strong> is looking to take his talents to the NFL level. In 2019, the 6\u2019-4\u201d left guard appeared in 732 snaps without allowing a single sack. He did, however, allow two quarterback hits and 11 hurries while on the field.<\/p>\n<p>Simpson initially joined the collegiate ranks as a four-star recruit in 2016. After being used rotationally in 2016 and 2017, the South Carolina native finally earned a starting job as a junior. During the 2018 season, Simpson allowed just one sack, one hit, and six hurries during his 857 snaps on the field. He did all this while adding a physical presence in the run game.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Prototypical size and strength for the position;<\/li>\n<li>Unstoppable when he gets two hands on a defender;<\/li>\n<li>Upper body strength is unmatched and doesn\u2019t need his legs to win a rep;<\/li>\n<li>Effective getting to the second level and blowing up linebackers;<\/li>\n<li>Can be effectively used as a pull blocker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Mediocre athlete with below-average lateral agility;<\/li>\n<li>Struggles to keep his balance when working in space in pass protection;<\/li>\n<li>Hasn\u2019t demonstrated any noteworthy improvement over his collegiate tenure;<\/li>\n<li>Slow out of his stance and can get beat easily by speed;<\/li>\n<li>Draws too many penalties;<\/li>\n<li>Has trouble identifying and handling stunts\/blitzes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/D\/DougJa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jamil Douglas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chicago Bears<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/chiefs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/jets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Jets<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/seahawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seattle Seahawks<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>4<sup>th<\/sup>\/5<sup>th<\/sup> Round<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on John Simpson<\/h3>\n<p>John Simpson is probably going to start out as a backup, but he has some interesting traits. From a build standpoint, he\u2019s everything you want in a guard. Blessed with ideal size and muscle, Simpson knows how to use every last ounce of his strength to absolutely destroy defenders in the run game. He never loses once he has a defender lined up and is a genuine joy to watch when he\u2019s at his best. Additionally, he can be successfully used as a pull blocker and can make plays in the second level.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest hurdle for Simpson to clear is going to be in the passing game. Simpson is slow out of his stance and has subpar lateral agility, which is a death blow for pass protection. He\u2019ll need to improve his speed, as faster defenders can just blow right by him. Additionally, he struggles to maintain his balance when he\u2019s not attacking, which only makes things worse for his long-term outlook. On top of that, he draws too many penalties and struggles to identify disguised blitzes, which could mean his football IQ isn\u2019t where it needs to be. There is hope that Simpson can develop into an NFL starter, but a lot needs to happen before that dream can become a reality.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"RfwCGJKlTip3rrgYnelmFQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1186527024\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'RfwCGJKlTip3rrgYnelmFQ',sig:'bL7Llpkb6sL0JSF1MsWP9V1ATtP2qNqlyZG5S16h39U=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1186527024',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After four years at Clemson, interior offensive lineman John Simpson hopes to take his talents to the pros in the 2020 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":84306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[5273],"class_list":["post-84305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2020-nfl-draft"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}