As a football team that wins only 25% of its games, the New York Jets do not deserve to have many players in the Pro Bowl (Games), if any.
In my humble opinion, only one Jet deserves to make the NFL’s 2024 All-Star team: John Simpson.
Simpson has a case to be the best left guard in the NFL this season. His numbers are off the charts.
As a pass protector, Simpson has allowed a pressure rate of 3.4%, per NFL Next Gen Stats, which is the lowest rate among qualified left guards.
As a run blocker, Simpson has earned a run-blocking grade of 83.9 at Pro Football Focus, which is the best among qualified left guards.
So, not only is Simpson clearly the Jets’ best player of the 2024 season, but the data says he has been the best left guard in the entire league. Sounds like a Pro Bowler to me.
You wouldn’t know that if you only got your news from the Jets themselves. The franchise’s social media has never praised its 27-year-old budding superstar for his on-field play since he put on a Jets uniform for the first time.
If you head over to X and use their search filters to locate any mention of Simpson from the Jets’ official account, you can see they have only mentioned Simpson twice since the regular season began. One of those was to announce that he was doubtful to return to the Jets’ October 31 game due to a groin injury. The other, to the Jets’ credit, was a fantastic feature on Simpson’s cause for “My Cause My Cleats,” benefiting NOAH (National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation).
Great job by the Jets for highlighting Simpson’s cause.
However, the Jets’ official X account has not once posted about Simpson’s on-field play since the regular season kicked off. Not a graphic, not a highlight video, not a press conference clip of someone praising him. Nothing.
This for a player who has the best numbers in the league at his position in both phases of the game.
Simpson deserves to be recognized with a Pro Bowl appearance for his efforts – and arguably an All-Pro nod as well. It was already going to be difficult for him to earn those honors since he is a relatively unknown player on a 3-9 squad, but it becomes even more difficult when he gets no promotion from his own team. The majority of casual Jets fans probably have no idea how dominant he has been.
The NFL opened Pro Bowl voting on November 25. Since then, the Jets have not made a single post on X to promote voting for their players. While you could argue this is justifiable because the Jets are 3-9 and likely don’t have many worthy players anyway, that misses the point of social media. It is a tool for promoting positive aspects of the team to get fans excited. In a lost season where there isn’t any team success to promote, the Jets should be focusing on the roster’s individual standouts. The players who have worked hard to perform well on the field deserve their props, even if it hasn’t translated to victories.
Even the 2-10 Raiders have promoted Pro Bowl voting multiple times.
Starting on Monday, December 9, fans can vote on X by posting or re-posting “#ProBowlVote” along with a player’s name or handle. When that day comes, you can be certain the Jets will finally start participating. However, it is imperative for them to put Simpson at the forefront of the campaign.
You know how the Jets are probably going to handle it, though. They are going to try and get you to vote for the most popular players, like Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, and Sauce Gardner, even though any honest fan knows their performance does not warrant a Pro Bowl appearance. Even the notable Jets players who have played “good,” like Quincy Williams or Jamien Sherwood, probably haven’t been Pro Bowl-worthy.
Simpson will be snuck into the graphic in the back-right corner, 25% the size of any other player featured. He will be included in that initial “Vote Your Jets To The Pro Bowl!” post that crams in 20 different names, but he probably won’t get an individual post after that, while less deserving players will.
If the Jets are smart about maximizing the value of their social media in this lost season, they will make sure to give Simpson the Pro Bowl campaign he deserves. Fans will laugh at the Jets for trying to push most of their other players into the Pro Bowl. But Simpson has the facts to back up his case. With his numbers, it would be insulting if he did not make it. And it’s on the Jets to make sure that does not happen.
Simpson’s ascension to this point is an incredible story. Growing up in Charleston, S.C., Simpson was the oldest of three brothers, stepping up as the man of the house with his father in prison. In the ninth grade, Tommy Hall, the proprietor of a high-end steakhouse in Charleston, was visiting local high schools looking to hire students who weren’t planning on going to college, and Simpson was one of the very rare students who stepped up. Hall’s offer was part of his outreach program “Teach The Need,” which aimed to provide restaurant-skills curriculum to low-income kids in the area.
Simpson worked as a bus boy, food runner, server, and greeter to provide for his family whenever he had time around his football and wrestling schedules. Sometimes, Simpson would come in with fresh cuts and scrapes from football practice, and the restaurant staff would bandage him up so he could work.
“He had a smile that lit up the room,” said Hall of Simpson. “Great character. He was a teammate for everybody. Great charisma.”
As told by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde, Simpson said, “I’d sit in my room and cry,” recalling the difficulties of his adolescence. “I felt like it was all on me to be the man of the house.”
Simpson developed into a four-star prospect and went on to graduate from Clemson with a degree in sociology. Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney called Simpson “a big ol’ teddy bear” and “one of my favorite kids that I’ve ever recruited.” Selected 109th overall by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, Simpson would become the highest-drafted Clemson offensive lineman since 1979, breaking the school’s long-running struggles to develop quality NFL offensive line prospects.
After an up-and-down three years in Las Vegas, Simpson was waived before his third season concluded. The Baltimore Ravens picked him up on waivers nine days later, and he signed a reserve/future contact in 2023, putting him on the brink of being out of the league just three years after he was a fourth-round pick.
With minimal expectations and a minuscule contract, Simpson emerged out of nowhere and won the Ravens’ starting left guard job in 2023. He started all 19 regular season and playoff games for Baltimore, parlaying his success into a two-year, $12 million contract with the Jets.
Simpson was a solid starter in Baltimore, but his potential to become something even greater was obvious. Now, he’s tapped into that potential, establishing himself as one of the most formidable interior offensive linemen in the NFL.
And his team has not said a peep about it in the public eye.
John Simpson deserves a Pro Bowl appearance, an All-Pro nod, and at least one tweet of recognition from the franchise that employs him. The Jets have a potential fan-favorite superstar on their hands, and they cannot be bothered to promote him, but they will eagerly tweet about Davante Adams signing a Krabby Patty.
