Colin
Simmons.
Colin
Simmons.
Texas· Jr· 6'4"· 255 lb
"Explosive first step and rare bend. Put up 18 sacks in the Big 12 before his 20th birthday. The most hyped EDGE prospect since Will Anderson Jr., and it's easy to see why when you turn on the tape."
He's a LEO/Wide-9 specialist who operates from a wide-7 or 9-tech alignment on passing downs. On 1st down, they use him as a 5-tech to set the edge against zone runs; on 2nd & long he kicks out to a 9-tech with his hand in the dirt; on 3rd down he's a pure speed rusher outside the RT on 90% of snaps. He's at his best on 3rd & 6+ against a right tackle without help, where his first step and bend produce a sack or QB hit on nearly three out of every ten snaps. The area for improvement is from a 2-point stance on inside rushes or stunts where he has to diagnose line games on the fly. Limited sample size on those reps for now — that will be a key area to watch in 2026.
- 01
Get-off
0.31s reaction time off the snap — among the best in this class. He beats the average RT in the first step and after that it's simple math: bend + corner = sack. A trait that translates from Saturday to Sunday with almost no discount.
- 02
Hip bend
Gymnast-like flexibility through his hips and ankles. His tilt around the arc is so aggressive he can touch the turf with his outside hand. An NFL RT needs a perfect kick-slide and help to neutralize his speed rush—and half the tackles in the league won't have either.
- 03
Production vs. the best
Four sacks vs. Georgia, 2.5 vs. Alabama, three vs. Ohio State in the CFP. When the competition gets tougher, so does he. Thirteen and a half sacks as a sophomore in the SEC is a number that gets the phone ringing.
- 04
Motor that matters
Gets hustle sacks when the QB escapes to his right. Pursues plays 25+ yards downfield on snaps away from the play-side. That pays off in the NFL — snaps 50-65 are just as impactful for him as snaps 1-10. It's a huge advantage late in the season.
- 01
Anchor vs power
Undersized at 245 without much room on his frame to add more weight. Against power gap-scheme offensive lines (think Eagles, Ravens), he gives up two or three yards on run reps. If he doesn't add 10 functional pounds, there's a real risk he becomes a situational pass-rusher on neutral downs.
- 02
Limited counter game
Speed, speed, speed. When a tackle respects his outside rush, he doesn't have an inside spin or chop-rip to punish them. NFL right tackles will study this from Week 1. The B and C-moves just aren't there yet, and that has to be said.
- 03
Pass-rush vs help
Nearly three-quarters of his sacks came on 1-on-1s. When he faces a TE or RB chip, his production drops by 40%. He has to learn to defeat chip-help — that's what separates a Pro Bowler from a solid starter.
- 04
Awareness vs run
Can overrun the play-side at times because he's habitually reading pass first. Misdirection runs confuse him on a small sample size. Reps will help correct this, but it's on tape and it's noticeable.
Position-specific sub-grades. Scale 0–100, same yardstick as the Sickos Grade.
Loading seasons…
Perennial Pro Bowler with 11-14 sacks annually. Owns the corner against NFL right tackles. The kind of cornerstone player who commands $25M a year, and deserves it.
Same speed-to-power profile, same bend around the arc, same ability to convert speed into sacks. If the counter game develops, that's the formula. The ceiling feels real, not just a narrative.
If he relies solely on his speed rush and doesn't add a power element to his arsenal, his ceiling is 8-12 sacks as a pass-rush specialist with little impact against the run. Good, not great.
Wide-9 DE (Bucs / Jets / Jaguars) · 3-4 OLB in sub packages · LEO in a hybrid defense
Best as a stand-up rusher wide of the tackle on third down. He needs an interior DT who can eat double teams (Sweat, Carter) to free up 1-on-1 reps. Pairing him with Will Anderson Jr. in Houston would be a generational nightmare for offenses.
- Giants#3
- Saints#4
- Jets#5
- Titans#1
Calculated: team's projected pick × position of need
- Lesiones acumuladas
AC joint sprain in 2024. Tweaked his ankle in 2025 (played through it for three weeks). Small sample size, but something to monitor.
- Frame ceiling
245 lbs is light for an NFL EDGE. If he can't get to 255 without losing his explosiveness, it will limit him to a third-down specialist role in some schemes.
- Counter ausente
His pass-rush plan has only one dominant move. NFL OTs will study that — a plan B is the difference between 8 sacks and 14.
For my money, he's the EDGE1 of the 2027 class with the upside to be a franchise defensive cornerstone. His get-off and bend are already NFL Pro Bowl-caliber traits — the only real question is how much he can expand his counter game and if he can add 10 functional pounds without sacrificing that first step. For a franchise with a dominant interior defensive tackle, this pick changes the entire defense. Imagine Anderson plus Simmons in Houston, or a duo with Aidan Hutchinson in Detroit. A rookie-year floor of 8-10 sacks is defensible; the ceiling of 14+ sacks with DPOY votes requires coaching to finish developing his pass-rush arsenal. He's a Top-5 lock for me.
RAS · Relative Athletic Score
Kent Lee Platte methodology · ras.football
/ Combine Feb '27 · Pro days Mar '27
Colin's RAS will publish once the official testing drops.
The Relative Athletic Score needs the 40, vertical, broad jump, shuttle and 3-cone — numbers that don't exist until the NFL Combine or pro day. Until then we grade the EDGE on percentiles vs. his positional cohort (see athletic radar below).
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.58sp50
- Vertical
- —in
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
Finding historical comps…
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Colin Simmons?
- Colin Simmons is a EDGE prospect from Texas (Jr). Draft Sickos has him ranked #16 on the 2027 NFL Draft big board. Colin Simmons is a first-step and ankle-flexibility phenom with double-digit sack potential. His ceiling is a third-down terror, but his run defense development will determine if he's a chess piece or the queen on the defensive board.
- How tall is Colin Simmons? What does he weigh?
- Simmons measures 6'4", 255 lbs, and has run a 4.58s 40-yard dash.
- What round is Colin Simmons projected in the 2027 NFL Draft?
- Draft Sickos projects Simmons as a Round 1 pick, ranked #16 overall and #1 among EDGEs on our 2027 big board.
- Which NFL player does Colin Simmons compare to?
- Our staff comp is A Haason Reddick with a longer chassis and higher coverage ceiling.. See the full comps card (high / likely / low ceiling) on this page for the reasoning.
- Where can I read a full Colin Simmons scouting report?
- Right here — this page is the Draft Sickos scouting report on Colin Simmons: tesis, strengths, weaknesses, NFL comparisons, RAS athletic score, film breakdown and the scout's verdict.
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