Scouting Profile: Cody Simon - LB - Ohio State
Sales Pitch: Well rounded backer with quick read and react skills in the run game. Physical traits will limit him to a rotational/spot start role despite his mental makeup.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
*Red Numbers Indicate NCAA B-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Cody Simon is a former 4-Star recruit from the state of New Jersey. He was primarily a rotational player and special teams standout - with 586 career special teams snaps - until being handed a full time role in his fifth season. Simon was a team captain in 2024, starting all 15 games, and receiving Defensive MVP honors in two of Ohio State three playoff games.
Simon is a compactly built linebacker with solid athleticism. He primarily wins with his mental processing and technique as a run defender. He is quick to diagnose plays and trigger downhill to beat blockers to hole. Simon lacks the size to play through blockers, but does an excellent job dropping his weight and dipping around tackles to leverage his gap. He tracks ball carriers well and knows exactly when he needs to get to his spot to make the play. He is a sound tackler who brings his feet and wraps and takes good pursuit angles when chasing ball carriers to the sideline . Simon is a smart and sound zone coverage player. He displays the fluidity to open up his hips and get depth. He does an excellent job keeping his head on a swivel and uses his hands to reroute crossers. He is quick to pick up routes in front of him and match their angles as well.
Simon is going to rely heavily on his mental attributes at the next level, because he lacks ideal physical traits for the position. He is a smaller backer with below average length and mass. Simon is easily bounced by first contact at the point of attack and struggles to disengage quickly from blockers who get hands on. He is often forced to surf over the top of crack blocks and climbing linemen in pursuit due to his lack of play strength. He lacks the closing burst to undercut blocks on the move and cut off NFL athletes to the edge. Simon is an adequate zone coverage player but he tends to lose track of routes behind him. For a player with short arms and average redirect skills, he lacks the recovery ability to be wrong in underneath coverage. His lack of size is also an issue in man coverage. Tight ends are able to use their size to push off out of their breaks and wall him off at the catch point.
Simon profiles best as a WILL backer in a downhill scheme. His processing skills and effort make him startable in a pinch, but limited physical tools make it hard to project him as anything better than a low-end starter. Simon projects as a priority Day-3 pick, who should be a standout special teams player and quality depth piece on defense.