It sounds like John Harbaugh may have ruffled some feathers with his role in an attempted trade for Jeffery Simmons
The efforts New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh went to in pursuit of a Jeffery Simmons trade sounds like it could ruffle some feathers.
The New York Giants are currently a first place team looking for a trade deadline splash. They’ve been tied to Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. And now? We come to find out that the Giants made a run at former Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. Simmons has since been dealt to the Chicago Bears.
But that’s not the biggest part of the news story here. Jonathan Jones of The Athletic released an intel report on Saturday morning of not only the Giants’ attempt to acquire Simmons, but the lengths the team went to in order to try to get business done. Head coach John Harbaugh allegedly placed a phone call to Titans ownership in a move that may end up ruffling some feathers.
New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh allegedly called Titans owner Amy Adams-Strunk in pursuit of a Jeffery Simmons trade
“Harbaugh then opted to call Strunk, the Titans’ controlling owner, in an attempt to get Simmons. Harbaugh got the same message from Strunk, who has empowered Borgonzi to make football decisions for the franchise.
One GM who became aware of the call said it violates a code amongst primary football decision-makers, that they will only deal with each other.“
— Jonathan Jones, The Athletic
This is a pretty eye-opening alleged move. Bypassing management in favor of calling team ownership is…certainly a power play. It wasn’t one that paid off for the Giants, either. I would have to imagine this won’t end up helping GM Joe Schoen and Harbaugh’s chances of getting any future business done with the Titans, too. Adams-Strunk has given football operations control to Titans GM Mike Borgonzi, who Harbaugh attempted to go over in order to talk trade.
The next Giants phone call to Borgonzi may well go straight to voicemail.
There are no shortage of other teams that the Giants can go calling for business. It’s hard to imagine this headline negatively impacting talks with other teams in the days and weeks ahead. But the code is the code — and at least one NFL general manager reportedly told Jones that Harbaugh’s move was considered out of bounds. It makes the team missing out on Simmons a double-whammy. Not only did they not get their guy, but Harbaugh’s efforts are catching some flak, too.
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