Jeffery Simmons is attending Titans mandatory minicamp, but he’s not participating in any drills. While the player is clearly staging a “hold-in,” neither Simmons nor the Titans coaching staff will attribute his on-field absence to contract issues.
The Titans picked up the former first-round pick’s fifth-year option, so Simmons still has two years remaining on his rookie pact. He’ll earn a base salary of $2.22M this upcoming season before getting that fifth-year jump, which is at $10.75M. Curiously, Simmons doesn’t have an agent; instead, he has a “team” that deals with his contract.
“I’m not talking to them about my contract. I have a team in place that, if it is my contract, they’re going to talk to whoever upstairs,” Simmons said, via Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com. “Vrabs doesn’t handle contracts. My job is to be a leader, be a player and not just on the field but in the weight room, the locker room or whatever it may be. I’m on the plan and I’m sticking with it, and I’ll see you guys in camp.”
While Simmons could be hinting that his team is negotiating a new contract with the organization, Mike Vrabel also said the defensive lineman’s absence doesn’t have anything to do with contracts. Rather, Simmons is “following the plan laid out by the team” that would have him ready for training camp, per McCormick.
The 2019 first-round pick had a breakout season in 2021. After collecting only five sacks through his first 24 games, Simmons finished the 2022 campaign with 8.5 sacks. He added 54 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and 16 QB hits.
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