|
Bengals select Chanticleers WR in second round. Jerome Simpson was nowhere near a television when the Bengals selected him in the second round of the NFL Draft. He actually was returning from dinner and a flea market excursion with his family when he got a call Saturday evening. It was Marvin Lewis, telling him he'd been chosen 46th overall. Simpson's family promptly pulled over on Highway 29, about 15 minutes from his Reidsville, N.C. home. "Me and my family, we were out there on the side of the highway, jumping up and down and crying," Simpson said. His excitement was still brimming when he spoke to the media after the announcement was made.
"I just prayed to be able to get a chance and be able to get picked No. 46 and play for the Cincinnati Bengals," Simpson said. "I'm blessed. I always kind of looked up to Chad (Johnson) you know, how he played, because I liked his game. He's a great player." Simpson could fill a big void for the Bengals at a time when Johnson is bucking for a trade, Chris Henry is gone, and the club has only six receivers under contract. Simpson imagined he'd go late in the draft's second round, maybe even the third round. But the Coastal Carolina standout was selected early in the second, even as big-school wide receivers like Malcolm Kelly (Oklahoma), DeSean Jackson (California) and Limas Sweed (Texas) remained available. "There's some things about him that are rare," Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. "Granted, he does come from a small school, but when you look at small schools, you look at productivity. "Well, he had the productivity of 44 career touchdowns and he had the measurables. When he got to the combine, he had - I believe - the longest long jump of anybody ... he had the longest arms and the biggest hands of anybody at the combine, and then his speed and his jumps were at the top end of all the receivers in the league." Lewis said the Bengals were impressed with Simpson at the East-West Shrine Football game in January. Wide receivers coach Mike Sheppard said Simpson had excellent feet, and the ability to get in and out of cuts. There were other attributes: his ability to float through the air and make one-handed catches, his outstanding vertical jump (which is close to 44 inches), and his 11-foot long jump. His track background has something to do with the latter. Simpson lettered twice on the Chanticleers' track team. He earned All-Big South Honors at Coastal Carolina after finishing third in the high jump and long jump. He also set a school record in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 8¾ inches. Bratkowski and Sheppard spoke often of how unique a player Simpson is. They were asked if he resembles the released Henry. "Chris had an unbelievable gear to the ball, on the deep ball, well into the route. When you're 40 yards down field, he had that second gear. I'm not sure that you could say that Jerome is going to be exactly that," Bratkowski said. "But I do believe right away, and at a very early time, he'll be a much better intermediate route runner and be able to do things much better in the shorter distances than, for instance, Chris did at any point he was here." Lewis doesn't expect Simpson to play on special teams, as he has no kick return experience. But there seemed to be excitement about his upside on offense. "We have every catch he's made over the last two years (on film) and there's a lot of "wows" on there," Bratkowski said. Acrobatic catches, Simpson said, are his forte. "That's one of my knacks, man. I'm going to get that ball wherever it is," Simpson said. Cinicnnati Enquirer http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/SPT02/804270423/1066/rss07 |
