Trenton Simpson had to wait more than three hours to hear his name called on Friday night, but the former Clemson star linebacker was finally selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft with the 86th overall pick.
During ESPN’s coverage of the draft, analyst Louis Riddick was asked why Simpson wasn’t picked until the third round, well below where he was projected in many mock drafts as a late first-round or early second-round pick.
“It’s the instinct part of the game,” Riddick said. “It’s the OK, is it run, is it pass… He’s just a step slower than Daiyan (Washington State linebacker Daiyan Henley, who was selected one pick before Simpson by the Los Angeles Chargers). Daiyan seems to be picking up a little bit faster.
“But I’ll tell you this – if you have Trenton coming forward and you’re blitzing him in the A gaps, sending him off the edge, if you have him covering man-to-man on tight ends, he can do that kind of thing. But if you have him sitting off the ball and he’s having to read run-pass, execute good run fits, get back into zone drops, pattern match, those kind of things happen a little slow for him at this point still.”
Simpson is the third Clemson product selected in this year’s draft, joining the pair of first-round picks in defensive end Myles Murphy (No. 28 overall to the Cincinnati Bengals) and defensive tackle Bryan Bresee (No. 29 overall to the New Orleans Saints).
The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Simpson, who collected multiple third-team All-ACC honors as a junior in 2022 in addition to being a Butkus Award semifinalist, finished his Clemson career (2020-22) with 187 tackles (22.5 for loss), 12.5 sacks, six pass breakups and three forced fumbles over 37 games (27 starts).
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