The most impressive part of Jeffery Simmons’ career year has nothing to do with his on-field play, making him priceless to Titans

We came into this Tennessee Titans season with plenty of notions that weren’t accurate. It’s hard to predict such a tumultuous year with detailed accuracy. But one thing that was pretty unanimously understood is that the best player on this roster was Jeffery Simmons.

Ten weeks in, and there’s even less doubt about that now. He has been incredible, both on and off the field. And that’s why the leaders of this organization were truthfully adamant at the trade deadline that he was not available to the rest of the league. He’s evolved into exactly the kind of cornerstone a franchise in peril badly needs, and it’s made him priceless.

Jeffery Simmons is coming back soon to dominate offenses

Simmons trimmed down this offseason in an effort to protect his longevity and also push his chips in on rushing the passer. The team knew they’d need him to be a dominant force in the interior pass rush based on the lackluster talent they had along the edge, and that’s exactly what he’s been. In seven starts he has 4.5 sacks, 11 QB hits, 8 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. If you want a visual representation of how dominant he’s been as a pass rusher, consider this chart:

The only hiccup of any sort has been the hamstring injury Simmons suffered in Week 7 that’s forced him to miss the past two games. And while the team hasn’t committed to when exactly he’ll return following the bye, if you follow Simmons on social media you know that the man himself sounds like he plans on coming back this week.

Somebody sounds fresh! Hopefully he is, because the Titans need him back badly. Without him, this defense lacks an identity right now. I also desperately want to see what a non-rookie T’Vondre Sweat and peaking Jeffery Simmons look like on the field together. I have a feeling it’ll be fun to watch.

The revelatory nature of the season Simmons is having goes beyond the playing field, though. In fact, I’ve been more impressed by what I’ve seen and heard about Big Jeff off the field this year than on it.

How Simmons became the leader this franchise needs

At every turn, his teammates, coaches, and executives have heaped the highest praise on him as both a player and leader. The latest instance of this came after the trade deadline, when GM Mike Borgonzi explained why the team never considered moving their most valuable trade asset:

“I want to highlight Jeff Simmons,” Borgonzi said. “Jeff has been tremendous. Jeff was a player that came to this league and they were winning and he’s gone through some losing seasons here right now. And I communicate with Jeff a lot and Jeff is a big part of why we’re going to turn this thing around here. He is. He’s one of the better players in the league and his leadership with these young guys has been tremendous.”

At what felt like the lowest point of the season in the moment—the end of the Cardinals game before a truly miraculous comeback—I tweeted that I wouldn’t hold it against Simmons one bit if he tried to force his way off this team. I still wouldn’t, for the record. I’m big on loyalty and the honor in building something yourself, but there comes a reasonable breaking point in every situation. There’s a fine line between loyalty and hard work, and plainly wasting the career of a great player.

But Simmons hasn’t asked out, not once. He’s not divorced from what’s going on, aloof or disinterested. By all accounts, he’s invested in fixing this franchise. And that’s admirable in and of itself.

“He’s a pillar here in this organization for what you want, and he’s one of the best players in the league at his position,” Borgonzi continued. “The way he works every day of practice, I don’t know if I’ve seen a defensive lineman superstar like him just empty the tank every day at practice. It’s impressive. And when your best player does that and younger guys look to him, that’s what you want. That’s what I’m talking about, being a standard.”

At the beginning of his career, I felt that Simmons’ explosion onto the scene as one of the league’s most dominant interior linemen led to fans expecting equivalent leadership from him that simply wasn’t there. He was being held up against the leadership standard to end all standards, Kevin Byard. And the franchise seemed to encourage this notion that Simmons was a sage veteran leadership presence early on with the way they talked about and marketed him. Simmons simply wasn’t that guy then, and I didn’t think he ever would become that guy if I’m being honest. None of this is to say he was secretly some selfish guy, a bad influence, or a problem in the locker room. No, of course not. But there are plenty of players in this league, some of them incredible talents, who are perfectly fine people but aren’t actually top-shelf leaders.

Then Simmons went through a pair of seasons in 2023 and 2024 where he wasn’t meeting his own superstar standard on the stat sheet, and it led to a strange narrative place with fans and media. Everybody understood how good he is, but since he was slightly underachieving statistically and still wasn’t quite the ultimate leader many had the misguided notion he was, there was discontent.