Bears Trade First-Round Picks For Simmons: Chicago's Cost
Chicago sent two future first-round picks to Tennessee for defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who joins the team ahead of a Monday night game in Seattle.
By Andrew Yang ·
The Chicago Bears sent first-round draft choices in 2027 and 2028 to the Tennessee Titans on Thursday to acquire defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. The deal also included Chicago's fourth-round pick in next year's draft, with Tennessee returning a fifth-round selection in 2028. The trade brings a four-time Pro Bowler to a defensive line that had struggled this season.
Simmons, 29, has recorded four sacks in seven games this year. Before Week 8, he led all defensive tackles with 28 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats. He also accounted for 10 pressures after facing a double team, a figure that exceeded the combined total of 14 for the rest of the Bears defense.
Chicago general manager Ryan Poles said interior pressure is a requirement for teams that reach the Super Bowl. "If you do the research, Super Bowl teams, you go back to 2018, since then they all have what we call a red-level interior defensive lineman," Poles said Friday. "So in order to get to that, you need one, I really believe that."
The Bears are 5-2 and have won their last two games since quarterback Caleb Williams returned from a hamstring injury. Chicago sits behind the undefeated Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North after taking the division title last year for the first time since 2018. Tennessee, the team Simmons played for since being drafted in the first round in 2019, has started 1-6 and has not held a winning record since going 12-5 in 2021.
Simmons is scheduled to make his Chicago debut on Monday night against the Seahawks. He said he is still learning the playbook and the game plan for the week. "But at the same time, I'm ready to roll. I'm ready to get out there and help this team win football games," Simmons said.
The trade reunites Simmons with Montez Sweat, who played with him for two seasons at Mississippi State. Sweat wears number 98 for Chicago, so Simmons will switch to number 99. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen compared the arrival to "like waking up on Christmas morning and you go out and you see all the presents under the tree."
Poles called Simmons "a multiplier" because of his ability to affect the players around him. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said extra blocking attention on Simmons will change how opposing offenses protect the quarterback. "You're drawing extra attention. That's gonna help everybody up front, really help the whole defense," Jarrett said. "You can kind of dictate protection sometimes where you put people."
Simmons stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 305 pounds. He earned first-team All-Pro honors last year after posting a career-high 11 sacks in 15 games. Across 106 career games, including 104 starts, he has 46.5 sacks, 31 passes defensed, nine forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.
