NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State defensive tackle Deon Simon was a seventh-round NFL Draft pick of the New York Jets Saturday, and within minutes after the draft endedm Demons' cornerback Imoan Claiborne agreed to a free agent deal with the NFL's St. Louis Rams.
 
Simon became the first Southland Conference player this year, and the first Demon since 2011 and 34^th overall, to be selected in the NFL Draft. The 6-4, 321-pound Baton Rouge-Glen Oaks product, a four-year letterman and two-year starter for NSU, was the 223^rd player (of 256) selected in the 2015 Draft.
 
Claiborne tweeted that he was headed to St. Louis. Free agent deals are typically not immediately acknowledged by NFL teams. Claiborne and Simon – who were among 19 NSU football players who received their diplomas at NSU's winter commencement last December -  raise the number of Demons to reach the pro football ranks to 76.
 
Claiborne (5-11, 187) was an All-American cornerback who had four interceptions and three fumble recoveries last fall for the Demons. He has four-year totals of 103 tackles, six interceptions and 11 pass breakups in 37 games, 28 starts, 22 in his final two seasons. He made 48 tackles and a team-high seven pass breakups while playing in 10 ½ games as a senior, winning FCS All-America honors from The Sports Network and first-team All-Southland and All-Louisiana honors before playing in the 66^th Annual Reese's Senior Bowl game.
 
Simon missed the last month of his senior season after suffering a sprained knee early in the seventh game of the year against Sam Houston State, but his early-season performances, size and strength earned him an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. He led all defensive linemen and was second among all defensive players with 35 repetitions of the 225-pound bench press. He had 93 tackles, 13 ½ for loss, in 35 games over four seasons, starting the last 19 games he played at both inside tackle positions as NSU alternated 3-4 and 4-3 fronts.

He was one of 16 FCS standouts, two from the Southland Conference, chosen in the three-day draft. He was the first NSU defensive lineman drafted since Robert Daniel in 1999. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane was the last Demon selected in the draft until Saturday, going in the sixth round in 2012.