A former Clemson offensive lineman has found his new NFL home in free agency — and it’s an old home.
John Simpson is returning to the Baltimore Ravens on a three-year, $30 million deal, according to reports Monday. He previously spent the 2023 season with the Ravens.
The NFL’s legal tampering window opened Monday, allowing teams to start negotiating with players’ agents before free agency officially begins March 11.
Simpson, 28, has spent the last two seasons with the New York Jets after signing a two-year deal with the team ahead of the 2024 season. He earned one of the Jets’ in-house awards as the team’s “Selfless Warrior” after the 2024 season. The 6-4, 330-pounder started all 34 games for New York over the last two years.
A fourth-round pick of the Raiders in the 2020 NFL Draft (109th overall), Simpson played the first three seasons of his NFL career in Las Vegas. The former All-American at Clemson started 18 total games for the Raiders in 2021 but was mostly a reserve for the team in 2022, starting only a couple of games.
After being released by the Raiders in December 2022, Simpson was signed by Baltimore shortly thereafter. He ended up starting all 17 regular season games for the Ravens in 2023, along with each of their two postseason games, and he played more than 1,000 total snaps that season while being a consistent presence up front for the league’s No. 1 rushing offense (156.5 yards per game).
In 2024, Simpson credited the Ravens for helping him get his swagger back, saying his confidence had “grown extremely” from his time in Las Vegas to Baltimore to when he joined the Jets.
“My confidence going into my fourth season, it wasn’t the best, I ain’t gonna lie,” he said. “It was down because of everything that I went through and stuff like that. But going to that organization and being around the people that they had there kind of helped me get back to where I needed to be, helped me get my swag back, and I really appreciate those guys for doing that and I plan on keeping that same swag for sure.”
At Clemson, Simpson played both guard positions for the Tigers in 2017 before earning a starting role. A two-time national champion, he helped Clemson post a 29-1 record during his two seasons as a full-time starter.
The North Charleston, S.C., native played 2,047 snaps over 50 games (29 starts) in his career as a Tiger (2016-19). He earned consensus All-America status in 2019.
