BLOCKBUSTER: Bears Trading For Titans DT Jeffery Simmons

Pelissero adds Chicago will send two first-round picks and a fourth to the Titans in exchange for Simmons. Adam Schefter notes the fourth is in 2027 and the Bears will also get a 2028 fifth-round pick back from the Titans. 

It’s a monstrous addition for the Bears, as Simmons has been having a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season for the Titans. Now he’ll actually have a chance to win the award on a more successful team. 

Meanwhile the Titans will add a war chest of picks to try and continue what seems like a perpetual rebuild. 

Tennessee just signed Simmons to an updated deal this offseason. They will take on $21 million in dead cap on their books in 2027 following this trade, while the Bears inherit the remainder of his $13 million base salary this year, per Over The Cap.

Simmons, 29, is a former first-round pick by the Titans out of Mississippi State in the 2019 NFL Draft. He finished the fourth year of his four-year, $12,663,750 rookie contract that included a $7,230,00 signing bonus.

The Titans then picked up his fifth-year option, which earned him $10.753 million fully guaranteed for 2023. He was set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 when the team signed him to a four-year, $94 million extension.

Simmons was entering the third year of his deal and set to make a salary of $20.173 million in 2026 when he signed a three-year, $105.8 million extension. 

In 2026, Simmons has appeared in seven games for the Titans and recorded 38 total tackles, six tackles for loss, four sacks, one forced fumble, one recovery and four pass deflections.