John Simpson (American football)

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John Simpson
refer to caption
Simpson in 2020
No. 76 – Las Vegas Raiders
Position:Offensive guard
Personal information
Born: (1997-08-19) August 19, 1997 (age 24)
Charleston, South Carolina
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:321 lb (146 kg)
Career information
High school:Fort Dorchester High School
(North Charleston, South Carolina)
College:Clemson
NFL Draft:2020 / Round: 4 / Pick: 109
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 13, 2021
Games played:19
Games started:14
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

John Simpson (born August 19, 1997) is an American football offensive guard for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Clemson.

Early life and high school[]

Simpson grew up in the Dorchester-Waylyn neighborhood of North Charleston, South Carolina, where he and his younger brother were raised in a single parent household by his mother, and attended Fort Dorchester High School.[1] Rated a four star prospect, Simpson committed to play college football at Clemson over offers from Florida, LSU, South Carolina and Alabama.[2][3]

College career[]

Simpson played in nine games (160 total snaps) as a true freshman on Clemson's 2016 National Championship team, missing multiple weeks due to a foot injury.[4] He appeared in 12 games as a sophomore, playing 300 total snaps of the bench as a key reserve on the Tigers' offensive line.[5] Simpson was named the Tigers' starting left guard going into his junior season.[6] Simpson started all 15 games for the Tigers, playing a total of 858 snaps, as the team won the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship was named third team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and to the second team by the Associated Press.[7][8][9]

Simpson was chosen by head coach Dabo Swinney to represent Clemson at the ACC's 2019 media day. He gained national coverage by a wearing a blonde wig to imitate the team's starting quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, whom most members of the media had expected to be Clemson's player representative.[10] He was named preseason first team All-ACC and to the Outland Trophy watchlist entering the season.[11][12] He was also listed as the second-best offensive guard prospect for the 2020 NFL Draft by ESPN analyst Mel Kiper.[13] Simpson was named a first team midseason All-American by the Associated Press.[14] Simpson was the only offensive guard to be named a consensus first team All-American for the 2019 season.[15]

Professional career[]

Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span 40-yard dash 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press
6 ft 4+1⁄8 in
(1.93 m) 		321 lb
(146 kg) 		34+1⁄8 in
(0.87 m) 		11+1⁄4 in
(0.29 m)		 5.24 s 4.87 s 8.03 s 30.0 in
(0.76 m)		 8 ft 11 in
(2.72 m)		 34 reps
All values from NFL Combine

Simpson was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the fourth round, 109th overall, of the 2020 NFL Draft.[16] Simpson made his debut that night on Monday Night Football against the New Orleans Saints on September 21, 2020, entering the game at left guard in the second quarter to replace starter Richie Incognito after he suffered an injury and playing the remainder of the game.[17] He made his first career start the following week on September 27, 2020, against the New England Patriots.[18]

References[]

  1. ^ Gaynor, Grace (December 28, 2018). "Clemson's John Simpson: From one of Charleston's toughest neighborhoods to football glory". The Post and Courier. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  2. ^ Chiari, Mike (February 3, 2016). "John Simpson to Clemson: Tigers Land 4-Star OG Prospect". Bleacher Report. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  3. ^ Simmons, Chad (September 29, 2015). "Who's Truly in the Mix for John Simpson?". 247Sports.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  4. ^ Senkiw, Brad (April 3, 2017). "Player to watch: Clemson left guard John Simpson". The Anderson Independent-Mail. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  5. ^ Gaynor, Grace (July 20, 2018). "Meet John Simpson: Clemson's lovable, huggable and huge offensive lineman". The Post and Courier. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  6. ^ Vandervort, Will (June 28, 2018). "Simpson takes over as Tigers' new left guard". TheClemsonInsider.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  7. ^ "ACC Announces 2018 All-Conference Football Team". WFMYNews2.com. November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  8. ^ "No. 2 Clemson dominates AP All-ACC team again with 11 Tigers". APNews.com. December 4, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  9. ^ Lentz, Zack (April 5, 2019). "CLEMSON FOOTBALL: 4 things to watch in Orange & White". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Carroll, Charlotte (July 17, 2019). "Clemson Pulls Perfect Trick Play With John 'Trevor Lawrence' Simpson at ACC Media Days". SI.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  11. ^ "Clemson dominates All-ACC preseason football balloting". The News & Observer. July 23, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  12. ^ Glover, Emery (July 23, 2019). "Gamecocks' Kinlaw, 2 Clemson offensive linemen named to Outland Trophy Watch List". WISTV.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  13. ^ Kiper, Mel (October 16, 2019). "Kiper's 2020 NFL draft Big Board rankings: How high could Joe Burrow go?". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  14. ^ Anderson, Reggie. "Two Tigers named AP mid-season All-Americans". WLTX.com.
  15. ^ Gillespie, Mike (December 19, 2019). "Unanimous honors for Simmons, Simpson highlight Clemson's 2019 All-America selections". ABCColumbia.com. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  16. ^ Bair, Scott (April 25, 2020). "NFL Draft 2020: How Raiders' John Simpson fits on offensive line". NBC Sports Bay Area. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  17. ^ Johnson, Marcus (September 22, 2020). "Winners and Losers for Raiders in Week 2 vs. Saints". Raiders Wire. USA Today. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  18. ^ Gutierrez, Paul (September 28, 2020). "Raiders find a silver (and black?) lining in loss to Patriots with Bills up next". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.

External links[]

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