Simms' LB draft rankings: T-No. 5 Justin Jefferson
Chris Simms explains why he has Justin Jefferson ranked higher than his Alabama teammate Deontae Lawson, discussing how the linebacker was a "pleasant surprise" to evaluate.
Video Transcript
Next guy you put on my radar.
Yeah.
Got to watch him.
Everybody's talking about Alabama and linebacker, but it's not the linebacker that everybody's talking about.
You have in the tie Justin Jefferson, not Deonte Lawson.
No, no.
And that's not even close.
I'm with you on- Yeah this one all the way.
I, I mean, it, it's not even close.
Deonte Lawson, there's some potential there, and there's a body frame that you like, whatever else, but when you turn on the film, there's no doubt who the better linebacker is in Alabama for my money.
And again, just for your, your, you know, reference point, like, again, I told you I get lists from teams, right?
This guy was on the list for all the teams.
He was on there.
So the- he's obviously on the radar.
And he's one of the, I think, my most pleasant surprises because I just knew nothing about him.
Sure.
I, I knew nothing.
Former JUCO transfer.
And then y- you read the breakdown and you're like, "Whoa, he's, he's too small.
Size concerns, size concerns."
And I'm like, he's seven pounds less than Jacob Rodriguez who we're talking in the second round, or another guy we're gonna talk about after this who people talk about being in the second round.
So I just go, what?
Like, th- this is where we get into this too much.
Yeah, he's small.
I mean, he's small.
There's no doubt.
But let me just say, rockets up his ass.
And like I said with Jacob Rodriguez, who I think plays faster than the 4.5 seven speed he ran, this guy ran 4.57, and he looks like he plays 4.41 when he runs around the field.
He's one of the fastest people on the field when I watch him.
So like right away, I was just like, "Okay, smaller linebacker, certain teams are gonna like him."
And I went, "Whoa, you watch the first few plays.
Holy crap, explosiveness and athleticism."
I mean, his acceleration and top speed look way better than combine numbers.
Play strength is really good for his size so far.
He's not overmatched.
I mean, you see him against SEC talent.
He takes on blockers.
He actually gets off them surprisingly well for his size, that I was surprised about, right?
His incre- his movement ability is maybe the best out of any linebacker in, in the draft, in my op- opinion.
I mean, he's an incredible open field tackler.
Just like we talked about with Sonny St- Styles, in pass coverage, he moves like a DB.
I mean, it's, it's literally like, man, is this a big safety or a nickelback that's, you know, can tackle in the run game or what here?
So that's where, I mean, you look at that and his ability to explode out of transition, that's incredible as well.
he is good in the run game.
There's gonna be the plays where he, yeah, he gets eaten up by blocks- Right a little bit.
Pullers and climbers.
That's gonna be part of it.
Yeah.
That's it.
That's it.
But I think he can do it, and I think he can do it at the next level.
You know, teams like, like smaller speed linebackers are gonna like him.
I wrote, to me, he's an Elzie Zysher type.
He's a Tatum Bethune type who played really well for the 49ers this year.
He's a starting linebacker for the teams that like the smaller, faster linebackers.
But the size will get him drafted probably lower than he, he should.
And I wrote third round, but probably goes fourth round.
That's kinda- Yeah, I think he goes day three.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I was When you brought him up to me like a week ago, I was like, "I gotta go watch him-" Yeah "because I watched the other linebacker."
I was blown away by expectations.
Okay, good.
'Cause there was no expectations for him.
Yeah, yeah.
Right, right.
And he, he's a dynamic athlete, sideline to sideline.
Yep.
You need the right scheme for him.
Yep, you do.
Like, you can't just have pullers up on his- No up his grill all the time.
No, exactly right.
But he's tough as hell.
He's tough as hell.
He doesn't care that he's 223.
He No- No told him he's 223.
No, he thinks he's 245.
Exactly.
He's a lunatic.
That's what I like about all these guys that we're talking about here.
The next guy is a funny comment from Coach Cam.
Yeah.
His only problem is that he won't ever be the best Justin Jefferson in the league.
Isn't that crazy?
It is like a weird thing you have to kinda like mentally get over.
Even when I texted to the gr- like I was texting to Pete DiMelio about this before, I was like, "It just feels so funny, right?"
That's his name.
Justin Jefferson.
Justin Jefferson, linebacker
