John
Simpson.
John
Simpson.
Clemson· 6'4"· 321 lb· 5.24s 40
"A consensus All-American left guard from a 29-1 Clemson run who fell to the fourth round because scouts doubted a 330-pound mauler could move in space."Pre-draft read
Simpson is a 330-pound mauler who played left guard for two Clemson teams that went a combined 29-1. He is a people-mover in the run game, generating serious displacement on down blocks and double teams and finishing defenders into the turf when he gets his hands locked on.
In protection he anchors like a wall. Rushers who try to bull him back meet a wide base and heavy hands, and he rarely gives ground once he sets. The limitation is movement: he is not a fluid athlete in space, he struggles to reach a shaded nose on wide zone, and he can lose quick interior counters when a defender attacks his edges. The signature is power on contact, the kind of guard who takes over the interior of a game when the offense is running downhill.
A gap, duo and power run scheme that pulls its guards short and asks them to displace three-techniques rather than reach and climb.
Year 1 starting guard in a downhill run offense, with a ceiling as a decade-long anchor at left guard for a top rushing attack.
A pure outside-zone offense that asks guards to reach shaded noses and cut off backside pursuit in space.
John Simpson Outland Semi-Finalist Highlight Film
Award-submission reel from the consensus All-America season at left guard.
John Simpson Senior Highlights
Senior cutup showing the displacement power on down blocks and double teams.
How OL John Simpson Projects at the Next Level
Pre-draft breakdown of the scheme-fit debate that pushed him into the fourth round.
Simpson was part of the best offensive-line room in the country. He played both guard spots as a reserve in 2017, then became a full-time starter for two seasons in which Clemson went 29-1 and played for two national championships, logging 2,047 snaps across 50 career games with 29 starts.
The senior year was a masterpiece. He started all fourteen games he played, earned first-team All-ACC, was an Outland Trophy semifinalist and became a consensus All-American, first-team on the AFCA, FWAA, Sporting News and Walter Camp teams and second-team AP. He was only the sixth offensive lineman in Clemson history to earn consensus All-America honors. He was ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week twice in consecutive weeks, against Texas A&M and at Syracuse, where Clemson allowed no sacks and produced 612 yards. He also scored the first touchdown of his life on a one-yard run.
Nobody questioned the power or the resume. The questions were about foot quickness and scheme fit: whether a guard that heavy could survive in a zone-blocking offense or reach defenders in space. Teams graded him as a scheme-specific power starter rather than a plug-and-play answer, which pushed a consensus All-American into the fourth round. Las Vegas took him at 109.
- 01
Elite drive power
Displaces interior defenders on down blocks and double teams, one of the strongest finishers in the class at guard.
- 02
Immovable anchor
Sets a wide base and absorbs bull rushes without surrendering the pocket, a trait that translates immediately.
- 03
Consensus All-American resume
Sixth Clemson offensive lineman ever to earn consensus honors, plus first-team All-ACC and an Outland semifinal nod.
- 04
Massive snap volume
2,047 career snaps over 50 games against ACC and playoff competition, with two full seasons as a starter.
- 05
Winning pedigree
Started for teams that went 29-1 and reached two national championship games, blocking for a first-overall-pick quarterback.
- 01
Heavy feet in space
Struggles to reach shaded defenders on wide zone or climb to linebackers at the second level.
- 02
Scheme-specific fit
Graded as a power and gap blocker only, which narrowed the number of teams with a real role for him.
- 03
Beaten by quickness inside
Interior counters and swim moves reach his edges before his hands can land, forcing him to grab and hold.
- 04
Weight management
Carrying 330 pounds raised questions about conditioning and how his body would hold up across a long season.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.24sp50
- Vertical
- 30inp50
- Broad jump
- 107inp50
- Three-cone
- 8.03sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.87sp50
- Bench
- 34repp50
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Clemson | — |
| 2018 | Clemson | — |
| 2019 | Clemson | 14 |
| Career | — | 50 |
Career totals of 50 games, 29 starts and 2,047 snaps come from Clemson official materials, which also confirm 725 snaps across fourteen starts in 2019. Per-season appearance counts for his first two years are not published separately in the sources consulted and are left empty rather than estimated; his 2018 start total is the remainder of the verified career figure. Offensive linemen do not accumulate conventional statistics.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A heavy, powerful guard who becomes a long-tenured starter in gap schemes but never fits zone offenses.
The ceiling: a technically sound power guard who starts for a decade and anchors the interior of elite run games.
A decorated college interior blocker whose foot speed keeps him from ever locking down an NFL job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
It took a change of address. Simpson played sparingly as a rookie in Las Vegas in 2020, started eighteen games in 2021, then was demoted to a reserve in 2022 and released in December. He appeared in 36 games with 22 starts as a Raider and admitted later that his confidence had bottomed out.
Baltimore picked him up off that release and made him a starter. He started all seventeen regular-season games at left guard in 2023 plus both playoff games, logging over 1,000 snaps for the league's number one rushing offense, then signed a two-year deal worth up to $18 million with the Jets and started all 34 games across 2024 and 2025, winning a team award along the way. In March 2026 Baltimore brought him back on a three-year, $30 million contract. Through seven seasons he has played 88 games with 74 starts. In hindsight the fourth-round grade undersold him badly: he is exactly the power guard the tape promised, and he has been a full-time NFL starter every year since he landed in a scheme that runs downhill.