With two weeks of preseason in the books, the Arizona Cardinals have traded S/LB Isaiah Simmons to the New York Giants in exchange for a 2024 7th round draft pick.
Simmons was initially selected in the first round of the 2020 draft by Arizona. Since then, he has spent all three seasons of his career with the Cardinals, primarily as a linebacker.
However, under the guidance of a new defensive coordinator and head coach, the Cardinals aimed to revert Simmons to his original role as a primary safety, aligning with his position during his first three seasons at Clemson.
Unfortunately, through the first two games of preseason, this transition was not proving to be successful.
Despite playing in less than 15 snaps against the Chiefs on Saturday, Simmons exhibited a couple of red flags that had detrimental effects for the Cardinals.
Right from the start, Patrick Mahomes connected with WR Justin Watson for a touchdown, with Isaiah Simmons as the primary defender on Watson.
Later on, Simmons was penalized for unnecessary roughness, and as a result, the Chiefs managed to score a touchdown just two plays afterward.
After the game, HC Jonathan Gannon commented on Simmons’ performance:
“I know he had the one penalty which was bang-bang, it was good physical play and a couple times in coverage he might have lost leverage but we’ll go back to the to the tape and get him cleaned up.”
But this isn’t to suggest that Isaiah Simmons lacks talent that could benefit another team. With his size and strength, there remains ample upside for the 25-year-old.
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