Coming out of Mississippi State, Barrin Simpson signed as a free agent with the BC Lions for the 2001 season. Simpson had superb rookie season, recording 113 defensive tackles as the Lions' middle linebacker. Simpson was named the OUtstanding Rookie in the West and for the CFL and was the runner-up for the Outstanding Defensive Playre in the CFL. Simpson was also named to the West and CFL All-Star teams in his rookie seaon. Simpson actually went on to win West and CFL All-Sars in all four of hs first four seasons from 2001 to 2004.
In 2005, Simpson had a career low of 71 defensive tackles and failed to win an All-Star for the first time. That might have made BC think that Simpson was slowing down and they allowed him to leave as a free agent and sign with Winnipeg for 2006. Simpson rebounded in a big way with 110 tackles, East and CFL All-Stars and was runner-up for the second time as the Outstanding Defensive Player in the CFL. Simpson repeated as East and CFL All-Stars in 2007 with Winnpeg which brought his All-Star totals to 6 division and 6 CFL selections. Injuries limited Simpson to just 4 games in 2008 and 13 in 2009. While there were some thoughts expressed about Simpson once again, but he had 84 tackles in just 13 games in 2009 and was well on track for another 100+ tackle season. Saskatchewan decided to take a chance on Simpson as a free avgent for 2010 and Simpson responded w ith 105 defensive tackles, played all 18 games and won his seventh division All-Star. With Simpson at the core of their defence, the Riderswent all the way to the Grey Cup before losing to Montreal. Simpson played one more seson with Saskatchewan in 2011 before ending his highly successful 11 year CFL career.
The one thing that eluded Simpson his career was a Grey Cup victory. Besides the loss with Saskatchewan in 2010, Simpson played in one other Grey Cup in 2007 when Winnipeg lost to Saskatchewan.
A minister in the off-season, Barrin Simpson was nicknamed "The Minister of Defence" and he cartainly lived up this title.In 177 career CFL games, Simpson racked up 954 tackles which works out to be more than fiver per game. Simpson added 10 career interceptions and 17 career fumble recoveries. Simpson scored two defensive touchdowns in his career, both coming on fumble returns.
TSN Video on Barrin Simpson (YouTube Video)
| Year | Team | GP | T | ST | Total | TFL | Yds | KD | Sacks | Yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | BC | 18 | 113 | 1 | 114 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2002 | BC | 18 | 92 | 0 | 92 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 6 | |
| 2003 | BC | 18 | 92 | 17 | 109 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 4 | |
| 2004 | BC | 18 | 78 | 13 | 91 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2005 | BC | 18 | 71 | 6 | 77 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 6 | |
| 2006 | WPG | 18 | 110 | 8 | 118 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | |
| 2007 | WPG | 18 | 112 | 6 | 118 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | |
| 2008 | WPG | 4 | 29 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2009 | WPG | 13 | 84 | 3 | 87 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2010 | SASK | 18 | 105 | 2 | 107 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | |
| 2011 | SASK | 18 | 67 | 5 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Year | Team | Int | Yds | Avg | TDInt | Long | FR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | BC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | BC | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 39 | 39 | 1 | 39 | 0 |
| 2003 | BC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 74 | 24.7 | 0 | 55 | 0 |
| 2004 | BC | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2005 | BC | 1 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| 2006 | WPG | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 | 13 | 2 |
| 2007 | WPG | 1 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 34 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| 2008 | WPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | WPG | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2010 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2011 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Year | Team | KOR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | BC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | BC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | BC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004 | BC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | BC | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 2006 | WPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | WPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | WPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | WPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
