Packers’ Jaylin Simpson Continues Search for Big Plays, Krabby Patty Formula

GREEN BAY, Wis. – One of the Green Bay Packers players making a surprising run at roster spot headed into Thursday night’s preseason game at the Steelers has been cornerback Jaylin Simpson.

He grabbed an impressive interception during one-on-ones at Family Night, broke up a couple passes during the Sunday practice inside the Don Hutson Center and ended Monday’s practice with a pick-six.

“It means something to me because I want to go out there and I want to make all the plays that I can. So, it means a lot, but it’s in the past now,” Simpson told Packers On SI after the Sunday practice. “I’m focused on fixing whatever else I need to fix and tomorrow’s practice.”

A half-hour after another head-turning practice, Simpson was looking ahead. He didn’t have time to step back and savor the moment.

“Yeah, it was a good day, but that’s just the mindset I’ve been built on,” he said. “You know, it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day, you just got to go out there [and do it again]. I’m just going out there and literally just trying to do my job, do what I’m coached to do. If I don’t do it, I try to go out there and do my best to fix it. If I do do it, great job, Jaylin Simpson. Next play. You know what I’m saying?

“So, I’m just out here competing, just trying to do my job. I ain’t trying to do the most or whatever. I’m just trying to do my job, get on the 53-man roster and go from there.”

Jaylin Simpson’s ‘Plankton Mentality’

From that perspective, Simpson’s mentality is like that of most of his teammates. From another perspective, he has the most unique mentality on the roster.

Simpson intercepted four passes as a fifth-year senior at Auburn in 2023, but it finished with a 6-7 record. That spawned what became his “Plankton Mentality.”

What is that?

Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaylin Simpson (38) rides a scooter during the first day of training camp Wednesday, July 29, 2026 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It is the first of three consecutive public practices. The tradition of players riding children’s bikes to practice dates back to the era when Vince Lombardi was head coach. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“I’ll let you know,” he said. “So, where it originated from was my favorite rapper is NBA YoungBoy and one of his songs, he said, ‘Never give up. Try again like Plankton.’ And anybody who knows SpongeBob, Plankton, his goal every episode is to get the Krabby Patty formula. That’s all he worried about. That’s all he wants. He’s not stopping. He’s resilient. He just keeps going, no matter what, every episode.

“So, at the time at Auburn, we were just losing and it was just heavy on my mind. And I put it as an Instagram caption. I just put, ‘Plankton Mentality.’ I didn’t express it to the team or anybody. It was just something I had going on that I was thinking about. And they asked me in the media, so I explained it to them and it kind of just went from there. All the fans started calling me ‘Plankton,’ and it just kind of went on from there. It was a funny thing.”

It was funny, yes, but it stuck because it was meaningful.

Simpson was a fifth-round pick by the Colts in 2024. He spent most of his rookie year with Indianapolis before joining the Jets for the end of the season. New York waived/injured Simpson early in camp last year, and he signed with the Packers in mid-August.

Simpson, who spent most of the season on the practice squad and made his NFL debut in Week 18, is on his third team in three years and is in the running to make the roster.

Is earning a spot on the 53 his version of the Krabby Patty formula?

“For him, getting the formula would just be a win at the end of the day,” Simpson said. “So, if you didn’t get the win, which he rarely got the win, but if he didn’t get it, he just kept going. He just kept going. Next episode, still at it, still at it, still at it. Resilient, just not stopping. So, my favorite rapper, NBA YoungBoy, he said it the best: never give up, try again, like Plankton. So, I felt that.”

Jaylin Simpson Gets Greedy

With mentality and talent, Simpson is a player on the rise. Due to injuries, he’s been living with the second unit and thriving. On the final play of Monday’s practice, he picked off Kyron Drones and raced the other way for a touchdown.

“Simp a baller, man,” safety Javon Bullard said. “I was just telling him before he caught that pick, man, I was just like, be greedy. Me and Simp grew up around the way. Simp from Brunswick (Georgia), I’m from Milledgeville, so we’re not too far from each other. Was rivals in college – he played at Auburn [and Bullard at Georgia].

“I always admired Simp’s game. Simp a baller. I just tell him, ‘Be greedy, you’re a baller, go make that play,’ and he made it. I joked with him, I need the old Simp back, man, but he’s been balling, man. I’m proud of him for sure.”

Simpson heard Bullard’s message to be greedy loud and clear.

“Can’t speak for everybody, but how I would take it [being greedy] is the ball,” he said. “Just go get that ball. A ball in the air is ours. It’s mine. So, he was just telling me right before that and, boom-botta-bing, pick-six. I love Bull, that’s my guy. He always trying to speak life and motivation to all of us. So, appreciate Bull for that.”

Simpson’s nose the ball and his hunger for that Krabby Patty recipe has thrown him into the heart of the cornerback competition entering the preseason. It’s an unexpected development after the team signed Benjamin St-Juste and drafted Bradon Cisse and Domani Jackson.

The Plankton mentality of resiliency and not giving up is paying off.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Some people still to this day call me Plankton. It’s a funny inside joke but, I would say, I haven’t forgot about it. It was definitely a college thing years ago, but it’s still inside of me, and that’s just who I am. If anybody ever wants to know who I am, I’m just a guy who’s never going to stop and just keep climbing.”

It's Gameday!

Here are seven players who must steal the show for the Packers tonight against the Steelers. ⬇️https://t.co/j3GSimaNks
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 13, 2026

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