It remains to be seen when Trenton Simpson will hear his named called in the 2023 NFL Draft, whether it will be in the first or second round.
But regardless of when the former Clemson star comes off the board, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid believes the team that takes Simpson will be getting all it could hope for in a linebacker.
“He’s everything that you want at the position,” Reid said in an appearance on Gramlich & Mac Lain with Kelly Gramlich and Eric Mac Lain.
Simpson has displayed his speed during the pre-draft process, blazing a 4.43-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. He then put on a show at Clemson’s Pro Day, flashing his athleticism during on-field workouts and testing very well while posting the best times among the participants in the three-cone drill (4.24 seconds) and the L-drill (7.06).
Reid was on site for Clemson’s Pro Day and got a firsthand look at the chiseled physical specimen.
“He’s a very interesting player, another player obviously that I got to see up close,” Reid said. “Really impressed with his physique. I did not know he was 6-foot-3 and 230-plus pounds. He’s every bit of it, too. Very muscular and tight build.”
Simpson was one of the more versatile players on Clemson’s defense the last three seasons, finishing with 187 tackles and 22.5 tackles for loss.
The former five-star prospect from Charlotte spent two seasons manning the Sam/nickel spot before moving to inside ‘backer last season, where he capped his time at Clemson with 77 tackles. He also had 12.5 sacks and six pass breakups in his career.
Reid said he thinks Simpson “kind of played out of position a little more so last year.”
“Last year, they were kind of using him in the middle and I thought they should have used him a little bit more as a blitzer, some at safety, and then what we saw during his freshman and sophomore seasons,” Reid said.
“But the NFL has kind of shied away from these versatile players just because being versatile isn’t always a great thing, and we’ve seen that with (former Clemson and current Arizona Cardinals defender) Isaiah Simmons of where you can have a lot of versatility but you end up being a master of none of those positions. So with Trenton, you’re going to have to have a very specific plan for him walking through the door. Let him master that WILL linebacker position first and then start to use him at various different spots.”
Another versatile player that Simpson has been compared to is Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah when he was coming out of Notre Dame. After winning the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker in 2020, Owusu-Koramoah was picked in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
“Another player that had a specific skillset that you had to use in a certain area and let him master one area like Cleveland has been able to do,” Reid said, “and then start to use him as a blitzer, using him in those NASCAR packages on third down and just allowing him to wear a bunch of different hats.”
The 2023 NFL Draft is set to get underway at 8 p.m. tonight in Kansas City with the first round, followed by Rounds 2-3 on Friday and Rounds 4-7 on Saturday.
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