Titans Trade Jeffery Simmons to the Bears a Day After He Said He Would Stay

Jeffery Simmons stood in the Tennessee Titans locker room on Wednesday and said he was going to be here. By Thursday morning, his locker held only his jersey on a hanger, and he was a Chicago Bear. The Titans traded their All-Pro defensive tackle to Chicago for two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder, a blockbuster that came together in a single late-night phone call and ended an eight-year tenure four months after Tennessee made Simmons the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history.

What did Simmons say on Wednesday?

Almost the opposite of what happened. “I haven’t heard anything from my agent, I haven’t heard anything from this organization,” Simmons said on Wednesday, per the team’s website, calling the trade talk a distraction driven by fans and outside media. “As far as I know, I am going to be here,” he said. Field Level Media carries his fuller answer from the same session: “Each and every day I wake up, my goal is to be where my feet are at. I’m never looking ahead, just being in the moment each and every day. I don’t worry about the things that I can’t control.” He had told The Tennessean before the season that he wanted to be with the team long term, and on Wednesday he repeated the point in the language of leadership: he could be the type of guy who says he wants out, or the type who stays and helps turn things around. Less than 24 hours later, everything changed, and the quote became the story.

How did the trade happen overnight?

With one call, while the Titans’ top men were still in the building. Late on the night of October 28, Bears general manager Ryan Poles reached out to Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi, who was still at the team facility along with Titans coach Robert Saleh, The Tennessean reports. Borgonzi ran the offer by Saleh, then spoke with controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk the following morning, and the deal was finalised. Simmons is one of Adams Strunk’s favourite players, but she did not push back. The terms, pending Simmons passing a physical: Chicago receives Simmons and a 2028 fifth-round pick, while Tennessee receives Chicago’s 2027 first-round pick, 2027 fourth-round pick and 2028 first-round pick. Borgonzi said he has never shopped Simmons to other teams before, which makes the speed of it the point. An offer arrived that was too big to refuse, and the franchise player was gone before his locker-room neighbours had a chance to say goodbye.

Why trade a player you just paid $105.8 million?

Because Tennessee decided the rebuild matters more than the pillar. In June, Borgonzi called Simmons a pillar for the franchise when Tennessee gave him a three-year, $105.8 million extension with $100 million guaranteed, a $35.27 million annual average that passed Kansas City’s Chris Jones as the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history, Field Level Media reports. On Thursday, Borgonzi explained the reversal in the language of timelines: “You have to be real with where you’re at with the team. How are we going to be better next year, the year after and the year after? We felt like this was the best decision moving forward for us, as hard as it is, to really accelerate that process.” The Titans are 1-6 and have fallen to 7-34 over the past three seasons, The Tennessean reports. Saleh put it more bluntly: “Eventually a team threw a deal big enough that I don’t think any of us could have said no to.” Two first-rounders in April, for a team sitting No. 2 in the 2027 draft order, is the price of starting over.

What does the deal cost each side?

Chicago pays in future drafts, Tennessee pays in dead money and in the present. The Titans will ultimately pay Simmons $25 million for the seven games he has played this year, according to Over The Cap, which would have been $8 million had he not been extended, The Tennessean reports. Moving him before the November 10 deadline also leaves $21.2 million in 2027 dead money, Athlon reports, while Chicago takes on the rest of his $13 million base salary this season and his $26.95 million guaranteed salary in 2027. On the field, the cost is immediate for Tennessee: Jordan Elliott was released on October 20, John Franklin-Myers has been dealing with injuries, and the Titans now head to Cincinnati to face Joe Burrow without the anchor of Robert Saleh’s defence, which gave up 491 yards to the Browns on Sunday with Simmons on the field. For Chicago, the cost is opportunity: two first-round picks is the price of a proven player over two chances at rookie-contract stars.

How did the locker room take it?

Like a death in the family, described in the plainest terms. His Titans blue No. 98 jersey rested still on a hanger, The Tennessean writes, and the leather seat below it was empty, minus the creases from when his 6-foot-4, 305-pound body previously rested on it. Safety Amani Hooker, drafted alongside Simmons in 2019, said he was surprised and shocked: “Great friend. Hell of a player. Obviously hurts.” John Franklin-Myers, signed to form a disruptive duo with Simmons, said they never spoke after the deal: “Truthfully, it happened so fast, life goes on.” Even Erick Hallett II, Simmons’s locker mate for just nine days after being signed to the practice squad, said experiencing him first hand, not just on the field but off it, was inspiring. Adams Strunk’s statement thanked him for how he played, how he led and how he represented the team, and pointed to his Give ‘Em A Reason Foundation changing lives in Middle Tennessee and Mississippi. A rebuild can be explained in picks. A locker room feels it in empty seats.

What do the Bears get on the field?

A player still performing at the level his contract describes. Simmons has four sacks, six tackles for loss, 38 tackles and 28 quarterback pressures in seven games this season, and his 76.7 PFF grade ranks 12th among 126 qualified interior defenders, with an 80.5 pass-rush grade that ranks fifth, Athlon reports. In 2025 he set career bests with 11 sacks, 17 tackles for loss and 21 quarterback hits, was named first-team All-Pro and started in his fourth career Pro Bowl. Across 106 games since Tennessee picked him 19th overall in 2019, Field Level Media credits him with 414 tackles and 46.5 sacks. The Bears play at Seattle on Monday night, 5-2 and pushing for the playoffs. Whether Simmons debuts there depends on the physical, and on how fast a 305-pound anchor can learn a new defence. The next question for Tennessee, Athlon notes, is whether edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II and running back Tony Pollard follow Simmons out before the deadline.

The trade is the week’s biggest NFL move, and it lands in a week already full of them, from the Chiefs signing Justin Tucker to their practice squad to the spitting saga that cost Gardner-Johnson his place and nearly cost Franklin his. It also has a personal echo in the building: Josh Simmons was told to leave a Chiefs meeting by Reid and Mahomes, a different Simmons, a different kind of exit. The Titans’ own week had already been defined by a player saying one thing and the league doing another, after Dak Prescott confronted the tunnel worker who called Dallas embarrassing and the Commanders let the clock run out on a tie instead of kicking. Simmons said he would stay. The phone rang that night. The jersey stayed on the hanger.