The Nashville crowd went crazy when their native Tennessee Titans took Jeffery Simmons at No. 19 overall. Although Simmons plays the less flashy interior defensive lineman position, the cheers were just. With the addition, the Titans appear to have one of the best, most complete defenses in the AFC, but the pairing wasn't supposed to happen. Here is why.
3. Titans' GM Jon Robinson didn't think he'd be available at No. 19
In an article written by Travis Haney at The Athletic, Titans' GM Jon Robinson spoke about Simmons and the likelihood of drafting him.
“I might have salivated when I saw Jeff Simmons live. — For us, really, had he not had the knee injury, I would say it was a real slim chance that he would’ve been there at 19. — I mean, I didn’t think we had any chance.”
Robinson is right. If he didn't suffer his serious knee injury during the draft process (more on that later), he probably wouldn't have been available at No. 19. And when he watched him play, he probably did salivate; just like the draft community and its pundits alike did.
Simmons was an uber-productive interior lineman at Mississippi State. Although his career sack totals don't reflect that (12), the analytics do. In fact, they even support Robinson's notion that he wouldn't be available at No. 19 if not for a knee injury, as Pro Football Focus said;
If it weren’t for the torn ACL he suffered while training for the Scouting Combine, Mississippi State interior defender Jeffery Simmons would be a lock as a top-10 pick in this draft.
In terms of numbers, it's easy to see why PFF was high on him. In a stacked defensive line class, Simmons finished as their fourth best IDL with a 92.8 overall grade. Per PFF, he had an unruly 14.6% win rate, and when lined up as a DT, his grade was third in the class with 91.7.
In terms of tape, well, this can do the talking.
Tennessee's No. 8 DEF gets even stronger
Titans select Jeffery Simmons No. 19 overall pic.twitter.com/HSXGgeJLHd
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) April 26, 2019
2. His athletic profile backs Robinson's statement up
Though Simmons didn't perform at the combine or pro-day, there are little doubts pertaining to his athletic ability. Time and time again, Simmons, despite playing in the trenches, appeared to be one of the most athletic players on the field. And standing at 6-foot-4 with 300 pounds on his frame, that's hard to do.
Many expected Simmons' combine performance to be on par with other athletic, interior defensive line studs. But, alas, that didn't happen. However, Quinnen Williams or Ed Oliver can't say they've done this before.
Jeffery Simmons blocking this punt in slow motion is…something else. And he recovered it for the touchdown. Big man getting up. pic.twitter.com/94dTJj5eOi
— Tyler Greever (@Tyler_Greever) September 10, 2017
1. Yet, he fell, for good reason
On tape, Simmons looks a lot like Ndamukong Suh, but his on-field work isn't why he fell to No. 19. He tore his ACL on February 12th. Though he'll likely recover timely and adequately, it took a massive hit to an already decreasing draft stock.
Off the field, Simmons has a pretty major red flag. In March 2016, he was arrested due to a fight, and as NFL's Lance Zierlein best describes it:
A video of him repeatedly punching a woman made him a nationwide target for those wondering why colleges allow the enrollment and athletic participation of players with violent histories.
This issue did take place when he was 18, but it's nonetheless inexcusable. It also led to the NFL pulling his combine invite, meaning, even if he didn't tear his ACL, he wouldn't have shown off his athletic profile. Only time will tell if he's corrected these mistakes, but it's hard to say that the ACL tear coupled with his incident didn't play a massive impact in his fall.
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