Las Vegas Raiders 2020 Rookie Roles: Offensive Guard John Simpson

Las Vegas Raiders 2020 Rookie Roles: Offensive Guard John Simpson

Draft Position and Profile

Simpson was ranked as the No. 2 offensive guard coming into the 2020 NFL Draft by Mel Kiper. As a guy with an immense amount of power, he was praised for his play in the run game large in part due to his ability to move defensive lineman and get to the second level.

When he was able to square up on linebackers, no one was making their way through him, or around him.

A few of the concerns for Simpson going into the draft was his quickness off the snap and his ability to move laterally. The analyst over at The Draft Network stated that “He’s effective climbing to the second level, but long pulls reveal heavy feet and he typically doesn’t arrive on time”.

Luckily they didn’t characterize anything about his game that fell under the red flag category, which leads me to believe the issues he exhibits can be corrected once getting into an NFL program.

The Raiders selected him with the 109th pick in the 4th round of this years NFL Draft. They traded up to select the interior lineman, making him the 5th Clemson player selected by Mike Mayock and John Gruden over their two-year tenure together. Coverage linebacker Tanner Muse was selected  less then 24 hours before they took Simpson.