Jaylin Simpson 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Auburn Safety

NFL Transition

Simpson started at CB for a couple of seasons and then moved to safety full-time for Auburn in 2023, showing good versatility to play in a variety of schemes. He is most comfortable from off-alignment as a CB, where he can keep things in front of him and be a reactive player in man and zone concepts.

He lacks the wanted lateral quickness due to his upright, high playing style. That affects his ability to transition out of breaks to stay with shifty receivers in coverage, especially when aligned as CB on outside or in the slot. As a safety, Simpson plays with good vision and instincts to anticipate route concepts and position himself to make plays on the ball. He is a good downhill player from deep safety; he made a great play on a batted ball, leading to an INT vs. LSU on a dig route run by Malik Nabers.

Overall, Simpson is an intriguing prospect because of his experience playing corner and safety. He was also a solid contributor on special teams. Simpson is best suited to play safety because of his size/length and athleticism to cover ground in coverage and match up against receivers and TEs in certain schemes.

His off-ball coverage instincts correlate to him being a possible sub-package (big nickel) contributor and backup safety. He should be a good special teams player in Year 1, providing good versatility and depth for an NFL team.

Other Notes

Simpson came out of Brunswick, GA as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the 35th best corner in the nation. He played for Auburn during the last five seasons and started the last three years, playing in 45 games from corner and safety. He had some snaps aligned in the slot, too. Simpson finished his career with 116 total tackles, four TFLs, seven INTs and 14 PBUs. In 2022, he was 21st in the nation with 11 PBUs.

In 2022, Simpson had 322 coverage snaps, during which he was targeted on 47 pass attempts, allowing eight completions for 269 yards and one touchdown. Simpson played from press alignment on 94 of his 366 coverage snaps (more than 25 percent of his snaps). Simpson and Auburn’s defense played slightly more zone concepts than man (59 percent zone and 41 percent man).

In 2023, Simpson had 326 coverage snaps, during which he was targeted on 17 pass attempts, allowing eight completions for 86 yards and zero touchdowns while having two INTs and four PBUs. Again, Simpson played slightly more zone concepts than man (58 percent zone and 42 percent man).