From now until the 2025 NFL Draft, we will scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, a scouting report on Miami defensive tackle Simeon Barrow Jr.
#10 SIMEON BARROW JR/DT MIAMI – 6030, 290 POUNDS. (RS SENIOR)
Measurements
| Player | Ht/Wt | Hand Size | Arm Length | Wingspan |
| Simeon Barrow Jr. | 6030/290 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Dash | Short Shuttle | 3-Cone | |
| 4.88 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Broad Jump | Vertical | Bench Press | ||
| N/A | N/A | 32 |
THE GOOD
– High motor and work ethic to make plays
– Good ankle and hip flexibility
– Room to add mass to his lower half
– Explodes off the line
– Burst helps him cross the offensive lineman’s face
– Fits hands into the lineman’s pads and activates leg drive to walk linemen back into the pocket
– Gets skinny to shoot gaps
– Violent hands and powerful punch at impact
– Powerful arm extensions and swipes, rip move, swim move, chains swipes and rips, one or two-handed swipe or club
– Flashes of speed to power, acceleration flashes on stunts
– Redirects to the ball after escaping the initial block
– Drew plenty of double teams and extra attention
THE BAD
– Lower body is lean for a full-time interior player
– Average arm length
– Seemed to wear down quickly on long drives
– Pad level is too high at times
– Needs to add counters to his initial rush for quick wins
– Struggles to re-ignite rush after he gets bogged down
– Gets lost in the crowd of bodies on running plays
– Not a high-upside player against double teams
– Blown off the line in short-yardage situations
– Gives ground to the vertical run game
– Able to be sealed off on zone run plays
– Stacks and peaks but doesn’t shed consistently
BIO
– 1,869 total snaps (1,442 B gap, 123 A gap, 266 over tackle, 31 edge rusher)
– 164 special teams snaps (112 FG block, 52 punt return coverage)
– Appeared in 47 games with 42 starts over 4 seasons at Miami and Michigan State
– Left the Georgia Tech game on 11/9/24 with a knee injury and missed 1 game
– Career: 140 total tackles (57 solo, 83 assisted), 106 pressures, 27 TFL’s, 23 missed tackles, 16 sacks, 82 run stops, 2 batted passes, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 0 INT’s, 4 penalties
– 2024-25 season: 30 tackles (13 solo, 17 assisted), 30 pressures, 8 TFL’s, 2 missed tackles, 5.5 sacks, 19 run stops, 1 batted passes, 1 forced fumble, 2 penalties
– Birth date 6/6/02 (22 years old)
– Born in Grovetown, GA and played at Grovetown HS
– 2024 First-Team All-ACC
– 2024 entered transfer portal and transferred to Miami University
– 2023 entered the transfer portal after head coach Mel Tucker was fired on Sept. 27 but came back two days later
– Three-star HS recruit according to 247sports
– Had 63 tackles (42 solo), 8 sacks, and 20 quarterback hurries in his senior season
– Advertising and management major in college
TAPE BREAKDOWN
Simeon Barrow Jr. played all over the defensive line this past year at Miami University. He transferred from Michigan State University after being there for 4 years and was playing on the same line as fellow draftee Derrick Harmon. He played well and started for 3 years there, making 30 starts and putting up modest production. He was continuing to improve before his head coach was fired several weeks into the 2023 season and he entered the transfer portal. He went back to the team after two days because he didn’t want to leave his teammates. He was stripped of his captain status, but he was well regarded on the team as a high character kid.
Miami allowed him to show how versatile he can be. He showed great pass rushing productivity and explosiveness when he was able to move around, be utilized on twists and stunts, and asked to be a one-gapping penetrator. Barrow plays the game with good physicality, urgency, and a high motor. There are a lot of tools to work with, but his modest length and size limit his ability to play everywhere in the NFL like he did in college.
Barrow lined up as a 0-tech, 2i, 3-tech, 4i, and even as a 5-tech in Miami’s multiple fronts and was asked to play both one-and two-gaps. Whatever he was tasked to do, he was good at diagnosing the play, as well as dealing with his blockers, often looking blocked, but flowing to the path of the running back and getting in on the play. He’s definitely better over the B gap and where he should play at in the NFL.
He’s just not big enough to hold his ground over the center. One thing that he could do a better job of his getting his hands up to try and bat passes or impede the vision of quarterbacks. He had none in 4 years of playing. Barrow is a really good pass rusher who utilizes an array of moves and has significant upper body power to blast guys in their chest to get them off balance or drive them backwards. He can utilize a swim or arm-over move. Quite a few of his sacks are second-effort sacks like you see in the second clip here.
Barrow is No. 10 for Miami in the following clip:
He is built low to the ground and does well at getting low when he needs. If you want an example of how to crush the inside shoulder and split a double team, Barrow provides teach-tape here. The guy just doesn’t stop as a pass rusher.
He isn’t a bad player in any facet, but his best attribute is rushing the passer, and his production would likely have been higher had he been allowed to purely play one-gap every snap, rather than spend time at nose tackle or head-up over blockers. Barrow shows good effort and works for the duration of the play. The term “high motor” may sound like a cliché, but he isn’t blocked just because the initial surge doesn’t work. He’s prepared to spin the other way, keep fighting, and generally keeps working his way to the ball, which produces some late positive plays.
Miami had him playing all across the D-line, all the way from traditional 3-4 nose tackle, head-up over the center, to the edge of the defense outside of the tackle. He won’t be asked to do nearly as much in the NFL, but the fact that he was able to give all of those techniques a good effort bodes well for his ability to adjust to the next level. He relies a lot on first-step quickness when lined up in the A gap and he does it well.
Barrow is also able to throw his anchor down against double teams really well for a player of his size. He can hold himself up well, but with his lack of size and lower body mass, he can be pushed around on combo and drive blocks. This isn’t a guy you want to put in that position often. Barrow isn’t the best athlete in the world. He is very quick and fast in a short-area space. He can stack and shed to hold on to the lineman before releasing and popping runners.
Here he is as No. 8 playing for Michigan State:
His strength and motor than he does with quickness and burst, which is an issue for a guy best-suited for a one-gap system, because the standard of offensive lineman in the NFL is far higher. He doesn’t have an array of pass-rushing moves. He usually just attacks a gap and then works towards the ball.
He’ll use an occasional spin move, but needs to add a variety of ways to win to his repertoire. He doesn’t appear to have great arm length, so he has to utilize that quickness and explosiveness to get his hands on guys first. He really needs to have more than a go-to bull rush, arm-over, club, and rip moves.
Barrow also needs to do a better job of showing gap integrity on run plays instead of trying to shoot gaps no matter what that causes him to be washed out of plays. He does a nice job of stacking and shedding guys. He struggles when guys get his hands on him and he gets stuck on blocks. As a run defender, shows good lateral agility and can get across the line quickly to get to runners.
CONCLUSION
Simeon Barrow Jr. is a defensive line muscle shark who never shrinks in the face of physicality or doing the dirty work that needs to get done. He isn’t an elite athlete, but he’s really good for the position. With power and toughness to spare, he has the look of a penetrating 3-tech, rotational 4-3 defensive tackle who could potentially start once he gets a better pass rush plan and puts on some mass in his lower half.
He is an explosive, powerful defensive lineman who is still developing his counters and must become a more consistent defender at the point of attack. Barrow is a good pass rusher and solid run defender that can offer third down potential to get after the quarterback right away in limited snaps before being slowly integrated into more action. He plays a lot like Matthew Ioannidis who had a really nice NFL career and was able to start in his second year even though he was a fifth round pick in Washington. Barrow could have a similar trajectory if he has a redshirt year to his NFL career.
Projection: Mid-to-Late Day 3
Depot Draft Grade: 7.1 – 4th Round (Rotational Player)
Games Watched: at Louisville (2024), vs Florida State (2024), vs Nebraska (2023), vs Michigan (2023)
