Ohio State’s Josh Simmons Blocks With Attitude

An NFL team can win with Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons, and that’s what this all comes down to.

Can we win with him?

My scouting mentor taught me that this is the most important thing. He told me he used to ask his scouts that question.

The answer to that question is a resounding yes.

The question is what round should he go in?

That’s where this becomes complicated due to the season-ending knee injury Simmons suffered on Oct. 12. We will have to see how the knee responds between now and the draft, but for the sake of this evaluation, we will stay focused on his 2023 game film.

Defensive mentality on the offensive side of the ball

This is something I love about him.

NFL Crunch Course formed some of my early football philosophy while growing up in Minnesota. I must have watched it 1,000 times. I was fascinated by listening to players and coaches talk. Former Detroit Lions defensive tackle Doug English said about playing on the line of scrimmage that it’s “A class of wills between the offensive lineman and the defensive lineman, one player ends up on top or on bottom by the end of the game. The press never writes about it, nothing is really said about it, but both players generally know by the end of the game who would’ve liked to play football for another quarter, and who wouldn’t.

In Simmons’ case, odds are, based on his film, he probably is the one who wanted to play for another quarter and the other guy didn’t.

Pass protection

He uses his hands well and what he lacked in upper echelon longer distance lateral foot speed, he made up for it with his extremely competitive nature.

The thing about it though, is Simmons gave them a dogfight from there. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was often effective.

He wasn’t easy to go through, but defenders did prove they could use his magic power of being so aggressive against him by taking advantage of him over-aggressing and over-committing at times to get some pressure through the front and back doors of the pocket.

Run blocking department

There was a little bit more to be critical of here and Pro Football Focus’ run grade on Simmons in 2023 only confirmed what I saw on the game film. While they gave him a 74.0 pass-blocking grade, that dropped to a 64.7 run-blocking grade.

Simmons is a mauler through and through.

What does that mean?

He’s not the most polished in terms of technique. He’s a street-fighter, which is part of his charm, but also it caused him to win some and lose some at a fairly equal rate.

While Simmons loves to bury defenders into the ground like it’s their funeral, his lack of technique hinders him from controlling blocks at times.

Simmons also sports decent, but not great football playing speed, which means he’s a ‘hit-and-miss’ blocker out in space away from the line of scrimmage. When he connects, it’s devastating, but at other times he doesn’t quite get there in time.

#71 Josh Simmons 6-foot-5, 310 pounds

Daniel Kelly’s 2024 Fall Grade: Second-Round (I would select him) * Grade contingent on him getting a clean bill of health pre-draft

Projected by 12.6 % of the NFL Draft Community to be a first-round pick as of November 21, 2024 (nflmockdraftdatabase.com)

2023 game film evaluated: Indiana, Youngstown State, Western Kentucky, Notre Dame, Maryland, Purdue, Penn State, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Michigan State, Minnesota, Michigan, and Missouri (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)

2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Scrappy and tenacious high-effort pass and run blocker. Bully. Big bruiser. Sets the tone on the offensive line. Long arms. Quick first step in pass pro. Choppy feet setting up. Average football IQ. Inconsistent versus stunts and delayed blitzes. Opponents consistently blitzed off his side. Handled spin moves. Average anchor. Tough and zealous inconsistent run blocker.

What to watch for during the 2024 college football season

1. Maintaining control pass blocking?
2. How does he look vs. stunts and blitzes in pass protection?
3. Sustaining run blocks?

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock, and has written for Sports Illustrated (Lions, Jets, and 49ers), NFL Draft Diamonds, and Yardbarker, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. Follow on Twitter @firstroundmock.