Dabo Swinney fires back at Isaiah Simmons critics: 'They're just crazy'

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Apr 21 14:48:40 GMT-04:00 2020

Isaiah Simmons' NFL draft projection is all over the board and there have been some hints to slipping out of the top-10 Thursday.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein said Tuesday that Simmons could come off the board as soon as No. 3 and could fall beyond eight, due to some depth defensively in the league and draft.

An ESPN analyst recently called Simmons the "most dangerous" first-round option in a negative manner, seeing him as a tweener prospect at a number of positions.

Dabo Swinney says that talk is insane.

“Those people are crazy and they just want to get their name in the media or something," Swinney told The Roar's Out of Bounds show Tuesday. "I mean, c’mon. Let’s find those people five years from now. They’ll be long gone or will forget that quote. People say whatever they want to say right now because there’s no accountability. Isaiah Simmons is -- if you’ve got 53 people on your roster, he’s like having 56. And if there’s something bad with that, then they’re just crazy. There’s not a team out there that wouldn’t raise its hand when you say, ‘I can have 56 and everyone else have 53?’ Everybody would do that. And that’s what he brings.

"The guy is a great person first of all. A great teammate. He’s going to impact the community. He’s just wonderful to be around every single day. The guy played over 100 snaps at five different positions. What that says is he’s smart. He’s got football knowledge. Then his versatility, if it’s bad to blitz, tackle, coverage, catch and do all those things -- I guess he’s bad. But last time I checked, those are things that win games for you."

What Simmons brings off the field in preparation and as a person is something Swinney continued to stress.

"He’s just unique," said Swinney. "In a day and age of football where everybody’s looking for the hybrid guy, to me he’s the model of who you would hope to find. There aren’t many guys like him and you gotta kinda settle. But with Isaiah Simmons, you don’t have to settle. He’s unique at whatever you want him to do. He’s going to be a ‘backer who brings an unbelievable skillset to the position. Will be interesting to see where he goes. He’s going to go high for a reason. He’s going to be a great football player because it’s important to him. He’s got character. He’s got work ethic. He knows how to compete and loves to compete.

"He’s not some prima donna guy looking for a paycheck and ride off into the sunset. That guy likes to play. I can’t wait to see him. He’s going to be a great player at the next level."