At 2020 NFL Combine, Isaiah Simmons must present versatility as a gift

The NFL Combine has long been a place for draft darlings to magnify their stock to unforeseen proportions. The statistical confirmation of a prospect’s athletic traits has a way of doing so; although no new information is being acquired, the quantification of a prospect’s upside holds weight. And for Clemson defensive player Isaiah Simmons, that rings true at the 2020 NFL Combine.

2020 NFL Combine: The Isaiah Simmons situation

Simmons has widely been described as a “unicorn” prospect across scouting circles — a term previously reserved for inhuman NBA athletes like reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and 7-foot-3 behemoth Kristaps Porzingis.

NFL players don’t typically fall under that distinction, but Simmons qualifies; the 6-foot-4, 230-pound defender lined up at linebacker, edge rusher, safety, and nickel cornerback with the Tigers. He logged 238 tackles, 28.5 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks (8.0 in 2019), four interceptions, 20 pass deflections, and six forced fumbles in three seasons as a starter. And as he braves the trail to the NFL, evaluators are perplexed and tantalized by the possibilities.

The hype around Simmons has been steadily rising since the start of the 2019 season. In August, he was still a frequent inclusion in the first round in any given NFL mock draft, but it wasn’t until the 2019 season took hold that his peak play grabbed the attention of the nation. An injury to Dylan Moses, and subsequent vow to return to Alabama, left Simmons as the unquestioned leader of the 2020 NFL Draft linebacker class, and from there, he took over the mantle entirely.

Now, Simmons is a borderline top-10 prospect, with some taking a further leap and including him in their top-five. He’s been mocked as high as third overall, and rarely does he drop past the top-10. Simmons is a surefire lock to go off the board in the lottery range, much like his NBA predecessors. The question is no longer whether or not he’s worth it, but what exactly he’s worth.

The role designation is the ultimate question for Simmons, and despite his over-arching strength as a prospect, it’s a somewhat viable concern. The NFL has long had concrete labels for each position, and rarely have players consistently been able to transcend beyond those labels. The archetype of the hybrid has been gaining steam in recent years, with players like Derwin James and Tyrann Mathieu testing the bounds of positional value. But Simmons’ profile represents a rare extreme — how far can he go? How far outside normalcy is too far?

Hybrids sometimes carry negative connotations — that they’re “good at everything, great at nothing” — but that kind of judgment isn’t fair to Simmons, or any prospect due for a projection of his traits. Watching his film, Simmons has everything he needs to fulfill the vast allotment of roles he’s been associated with.

Simmons’ frame is exactly as long as advertised, allowing him to make plays smaller defensive backs can’t. His speed rivals the fastest players on the field, and running a 4.4 40-yard dash is not only in the realm of possibility but the expectation. He couples that speed with incredible short-area burst and hip fluidity in coverage, and while he’s still filling out his frame, he’s far from a liability as a tackler. Simmons also has the intelligence to pair with his traits, and with some NFL seasoning and development, it’s exciting to think about what Simmons can become.

In the right situation, of course.

Simmons has all the traits, and he’s produced a great deal with them already. But there still exists room for those traits to be magnified, and defensive coordinators will have to be able to think outside the box to use Simmons to his maximum potential. Putting him in a standard WILL linebacker alignment for three downs at a time won’t do his ability justice. Using him exclusively in dime looks will dilute his upside elsewhere.

The bold but unintuitive defensive minds may ruin Simmons. The conservative, risk-averse general manager may opt to conform to the preconceived positional constructs. Simmons is the prospect of the philosophical revolutionary, and if he doesn’t fall into the right hands, one has to wonder what could happen.

But from the interior perspective, teams can’t view themselves as the collapse agent for a prospect. Teams must instead think of ways of how they can maximize players, either in one role, or several. Las Vegas Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said it best when talking about Isaiah Simmons, and the subject of versatility, at the 2020 NFL Combine earlier this week:

“Really, I think the only limitations on him are what the defensive coordinator puts on him.”

Simmons, to this point, has done everything possible to raise his draft stock, so much so that the one remaining question is no longer under his control. The only thing left for Simmons to do is dominate the 2020 NFL Combine, and convince even the most stringent NFL decision-makers, that roles are relics of the past. And that Simmons is the future.