Bears land DT Jeffery Simmons in blockbuster trade, send Titans two first-round picks - USA Today
In a stunning move ahead of the Nov. 10 trade deadline, the Chicago Bears have agreed to acquire All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from the Tennessee Titans on Thursday, Oct. 29. Tennessee will receive two first-round picks as part of the package for Simmons, their best player.
Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk thanked Simmons for his service to her club and the Nashville community. "We are forever grateful for all he has given this team and this city," she said in a statement.
The Bears, who are currently 5-2 and in second place in the NFC North, are clearly in hot pursuit of their first Lombardi Trophy since the famed '85 team won it all. Chicago has not reached a Super Bowl since the 2006 season. Tennessee, meanwhile, is 1-6 in its first season under head coach Robert Saleh and hasn't even won consecutive games since 2022.
Simmons is the first defensive tackle in the common draft era (since 1967) to be swapped for multiple first-rounders.
They're definitely going for the brass ring. Simmons joins an eighth-ranked defense that also just got pass rusher Montez Sweat back from a two-game suspension. Simmons, a high-motor player who's been on the field for nearly 90% of Tennessee's snaps this season, and fellow veteran DT Grady Jarrett should form a nightmare tandem inside while evidently fulfilling coordinator Dennis Allen's vision for the unit after Gervon Dexter Sr. was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in late August (and later signed a huge extension with them). The Bears' 37.9% pressure rate currently ranks 12th in the league, though it's a metric teams seem increasingly focused on in the aftermath of the Seattle Seahawks' successful Super Bowl 60 run β one underpinned by the "Dark Side" defense β and the defensive dominance the blitz-happy Minnesota Vikings have enjoyed in 2026 while constantly haranguing quarterbacks.
A fresh start. Despite the hiring of Saleh, the procurement of QB Cam Ward with the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft and heavy expenditures at this year's free agent market, Tennessee has yet to show significant progress even in the middling AFC South. It's been a bitter pill for Adams Strunk to swallow, especially amid hopes the team would move into its new stadium next year riding a wave of momentum. Offloading Simmons should at least provide a renewed sense of optimism next year β and perhaps the option to replace Ward if he continues to struggle as the presumed franchise quarterback.
The Chicago Bears receive: Simmons and a fifth-round pick in 2028.
The Tennessee Titans receive: A first-round pick in 2027, a fourth-round pick in 2027 and a first-round pick in 2028.
In pulling off the boldest move of the NFL's season to date, the Bears attempted to push their current crew to the top of the conference pecking order. The Titans, meanwhile, removed perhaps the last remaining franchise cornerstone in an effort to build for the longer term. The Bears earned high marks for the move, but the Titans fared far less well in Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz's trades.
Here's an excerpt from reporter Nate Davis breaking down the big winners and losers of the trade. Read the full article here.
A team that already appeared to be on a potential Super Bowl track, particularly after QB Caleb Williams' return from his Week 2 hamstring injury, has not only further signaled that belief to its fans and locker room but has legitimately bolstered its defense with one of the league's dominant players. Chicago already ranked in the top 10 defensively overall and in terms of points allowed. But coordinator Dennis Allen's unit was at its best last year when it was making game-changing plays β specifically a league-best 33 takeaways and NFL-high plus-22 turnover differential. The Bears haven't been quite as good in those departments this year, a minus-1 differential specifically, but the havoc Simmons tends to create could quickly vault them back near the top of those categories. At minimum, Simmons will be knifing though A and B gaps and likely terrorizing the Jared Goffs, Jordan Loves and Kyler Murrays of the world.
This trade is especially surprising given Simmons signed a three-year, $105.8 million ($100 million of it guaranteed) extension in June. But even though it runs through the 2030 season, his guarantees will all be paid out by the end of the 2027 campaign, when Simmons' $26.95 million base salary is fully guaranteed. Because his base salaries are so large from the 2028 though '30 seasons, the Titans will only take a dead cap hit of roughly $21 million in 2027.
The team gave every indication that Simmons, 29 and a four-time Pro Bowler, was part of its long-term vision after inking him to the extension.
"Jeffery Simmons is a pillar for our franchise and embodies what it means to be a Titan. He's the premier defensive tackle in the National Football League and you win with players like Jeffery," GM Mike Borgonzi said in a statement following the announcement of Simmons' extension.
"Not only is his leadership on the field what we want our program to represent, but off the field, he sets the standard for our community."
A first-round pick in 2019, Simmons has 414 career tackles (72 for losses), nine forced fumbles, 46Β½ sacks and 96 QB hits in 106 regular-season games. He had a career-best 11 sacks in 2025, a very high number for an interior lineman and most at his position league-wide last year and, per Next Gen Stats, also had 57 QB pressures. He's averaged 49 pressures between the 2020 and '25 campaigns and already has 28 through seven games in 2026.
Simmons is 29 and has played eight NFL seasons since being drafted 19th overall out of Mississippi State in 2019.
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