Rebuilding block
Simpson rediscovers his self-belief, wins a starting job in the process
The news arrived matter of factly.
“If we play tomorrow,” Ravens offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris told John Simpson, “you’d be the starter.”
That’s how it often happens in the NFL as cutdown day looms. If a player isn’t going to make the 53-man roster, he’s informed by the head coach. But for those who win the mini civil wars over precious open spots? They just get to keep coming to work.
Ravens wide receiver Tylan Wallace spent a nervous few minutes in his car Tuesday as the 4 p.m. deadline for cuts loomed. When he didn’t receive a phone call summoning him to a meeting with John Harbaugh, he exhaled and drove home. “I figured if nobody said anything, I figured I was good,” he said.
For Simpson, it was that chat with D’Alessandris last week, a tidy conclusion to his battle with rookie Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu to start at left guard. The verdict was not a surprise by that point. Though Aumavae-Laulu had begun training camp taking reps with the four established starters on the offensive line, Simpson had outplayed him in two preseason games and taken over most of the first-team work in practice.
Nonetheless, D’Alessandris’ words signaled a milestone for the 26-year-old offensive lineman in his climb from the depths of athletic despair.
“I lacked confidence,” he said, describing his outlook in December after the Las Vegas Raiders waived him and his career seemed to be at a crossroads. “I just didn’t really know what would happen or what was going on.”
The 6-foot-4, 330-pound Simpson had been a big man on campus at Clemson, starting 29 of a possible 30 games in his junior and senior seasons and earning praise from NFL scouts for his broad, powerful physique and his hunger to eliminate defenders from running lanes. The Raiders drafted him in the fourth round in 2020, and he started all 17 games for them in his second season.
How was he out of a job less than a year later, just when he expected to be entering his prime?
The Ravens signed him to their practice squad just before Christmas, but he did not see immediate action for his new team, and his name was not the first off anyone’s lips when discussion turned to replacing Ben Powers at left guard. Before he could worry about that, Simpson needed to re-center himself.
“I think just putting one thing at a time, one day at a time and just trying to get better, honestly,” he said, laughing at himself for turning to such a well-worn explanation. “I wish I had a different answer, but that’s how I went about training camp. Coach [D’Alessandris] says it all the time. He says, ‘It’s one thing at a time. One day at a time. One play at a time. Whatever it is, just do that, and you’ll see improvement.’ ”
Cliches exist for a reason, and this purifying mindset worked for Simpson as did the fresh start provided by a change in locales. “That definitely played a part in it,” he said. “I think just getting here and realizing it’s still just football, I think that helped me out a lot.”
He had been criticized for drawing too many holding and false start flags, even as an All-American at Clemson, but in his competition with Aumavae-Laulu, a sixth-round pick out of Oregon, he produced cleaner tape. He was the more polished pass blocker, allowing zero pressures in preseason action, according to Pro Football Focus.
He reduced his errors in part by worrying less about the ones he did make.
“Mistakes are going to happen. I know that,” Simpson said. “[I] just try to overcome them and just go to the next play or whatever’s next, just try to go through that. That’s kind of how I helped build my own confidence, and then I have guys like Tyler [Linderbaum], Sam Mustipher — he’s been a great help for me — Morgan Moses, all those guys have just been there for me whenever I would make a mistake or something like that. They’d just be there and let me know that I’m capable of doing the right thing.”
KevinZeitler,astalwartstarteratrightguard, recently praised Simpson for “keeping a cool head.” And nothing against Aumavae-Laulu, but Simpson liked waking up every day knowing he needed to outplay a specific person.
“Anybody that’s a competitor wants to compete,andIthinkthatgavemealittlejuice,” he said. “I mean, it did. It gave me a little juice, and I feel like it helped me throughout camp, and it gave me something to look forward to every day.”
“He definitely seized the job,” Harbaugh said, noting that he was intrigued to hear Simpson had struggled to find his confidence after last year. He’s always shown himself as a confident guy,” he said. “I was just proud of him, and I thought he just came to work every day and kept it simple. [He] made it about being the best player he could be day in and day out. He took coaching really well, and obviously, he’s a very talented player. So, if he’s playing with confidence now, I’m all for it.”
For all his good work this summer, Simpson will still enter the season as the least certain link in an offensive line that could be one of the best in the league. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley is a former All-Pro. Zeitler and Moses are dependable workhorses on the right side. Linderbaum is viewed as a future Pro Bowl candidate. Patrick Mekari is the versatile reserve who helps hold everything together.
It’s a high standard but one Simpson now believes he will reach.