Jeffery Simmons DL Mississippi St

STRENGTHS
Jeffery has the size, strength and explosion to be a top ten Defensive Lineman pick in this draft. He can play multiple positions in different defensive fronts and be disruptive at all of them. He changes the line of scrimmage in his favor on every play. He has tremendous quickness off the line to sack the quarterback and has the strength and leverage to push the pocket also. Jeff shows quick feet and an excellent burst and could easily play DE in a 3/4 or 4/3 and still get to the quarterback on passing downs. He does an excellent job taking on double teams and shows the talent to defeat them and still get to the quarterback on passing downs or track down running backs behind the line of scrimmage. Jeffery does an excellent job playing over the center on passing downs because of his quickness and explosion off the line of scrimmage on the snap of the ball. Jeffery should be a top ten pick in this draft but remember it takes more that talent to play in the NFL.

CONCERNS
Jeffery has some off-field issues that teams will have to address and except, if they want to select Jeffery at any point in the 1st round. He also just recently has a medical issue (Knee injury) training for the combine. This will take time for him to heal and make teams wonder when Jeffery can get on the field for the first year of his contract.

TALENT BOARD ROUND 2.02
Remember this when it comes to the NFL. No matter what teams may say in public, talent trumps all issues and solves all issues and Jeffrey has that type of talent that will solve ALL of his issues. There will be teams that will have a high grade on Jeffrey in spite of his domestic violence issues and knee issues. They will scream and yell about a talented player’s lack of height but if they can check all the athletic boxes for the prototype NFL player at any position, there are some teams that will disregard any off-field issues or medical issues. Jeffrey has the prototypical talent and size to impact at the next level so its just a matter of what round he falls into but believe this, he will be drafted and if he is not drafted he will be signed as a rookie free agent. For me personally, the domestic violence issue was in 2016 and the issue is well documented and seems to be in his past. The knee well, knees and ACL’s are the norm in the NFL so I don’t see that being much of a problem either. I think if he is sitting there in the second round I might take a flyer on him depending on the severity of the knee. Others might take him off their boards but I would keep him on, that’s if he keeps his nose clean all the way to the draft. I think selecting 1st round top ten talent in the second round would be something I could live with but remember there is a lot of Defensive Line talent in this draft so Jeffrey could get lost and passing on him to select someone else with no off-field problems or medical issues seems to be the smarter move this year. Nevertheless, don’t be surprised if he sneaks into the latter part of the 1st round for a playoff team or super bowl team for sure.