'He’s going to be one of the ones' Titans star Jeffery Simmons raves about Cam Ward's swagger, competitiveness, and smack talk
Big Jeff loves what he’s seen so far
Tennessee Titans star DT Jeffery Simmons was on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football this week to talk about Cam Ward. His exposure to the 1st overall draft pick has been relatively minimal so far, as he only attended the mandatory portion of OTAs earlier this summer, but clearly Cam has already left a notable impression on him.
“You know, first off, I think that our team, the Tennessee Titans, never get the respect and attention we need. I've never seen the number one pick overall not get the respect and, you know, quite frankly, the attention that he deserves. I went to (mandatory) minicamp, but I met Cam for the first time at a private birthday party that Saturday a week before minicamp. And we met, and of course, we were talking smack then.
I was like, I heard you've been slicing the guys up. You've been talking smack. I said, I'm going to bring that to you too now. Like, I talk smack, and we started there. And then just to be able to get that relationship with him off the field, we chopped it up for a long time. We talked about fishing and the things that he liked to do off the field.”
Simmons is a bit of a polarizing figure on this team at the moment. He’s clearly the best player on the roster in my estimation, but he’s also somebody fans are constantly wanting more from. Whether you like it or not, though, he’s a veteran leader on this team. And he’s working to pour into the youth movement that’s coming in right now.
“And I think what matters the most for me is, especially with young guys, trying to gain that relationship with guys off the field to make them feel comfortable. We know that Cam Ward is going to have to play football for us this season. And it's my goal and my job to help him out. Going into year seven, I think I’m the longest tenured Titan, and I’m just trying to make him feel at home from a vet. You know, it's crazy to say that now… year seven, I’m a vet.”
Simmons recounted the now infamous story from minicamp of Cam Ward talking big smack with him between plays.
“I think I ended up getting a sack and all of a sudden we were talking smack and (Brian) Callahan gave him the next play. And I'm like, you know, I'm still talking to Cam. So I'm talking. Cause that's my game. I want to talk smack to, I want to get in your head. It didn't faze him.
No, he's still talking smack. While Cally’s getting the play to him, he’s still talking smack as he’s getting the play. And I'm like, give him the play! And literally when he gave him that play, the next play after the smack talk, he threw an 80 yard bomb to Calvin Ridley. So that just adds to the swagger that right there.”
It hasn’t taken much from Ward to convince Simmons he’s the real deal already.
“He's legit. And I think where we are at right now with, like I said, him not getting enough praise… I think that's the chip on his shoulder. You could tell the way he go about his business, his swagger, his demeanor. I think he’s going to be one of the ones that… I'm excited to see. I'm, I'm excited to get back to camp and go next week to be more around him and to learn a little more about him.”
Simmons already has plans to test Ward’s competitiveness off the field during training camp this months:
“But man, it's been unbelievable to get to know him so far. We're supposed to be going fishing. We've been talking a little smack too, off the field with fishing. I don't think nobody in that locker room can out-fish me, but he thinks he can. So we're going to make sure we get that one tested. One of the off days during training camp.”
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