Packers Sign Former No. 8 Pick Isaiah Simmons

Simmons was the eighth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, taken by the Arizona Cardinals.

He is on his third team in five years after things did not work out with the Cardinals, and he was subsequently traded to the Giants.

The Giants allowed him to sit in free agency until now, and the Packers have decided to pounce after he visited the team shortly before the draft.

Simmons is an athletic marvel. He measured in at 6-foot-3 and 239 pounds at the Scouting Combine in February of 2020.

He ran the 40-yard-dash in 4.39 seconds and had a 39 inch vertical leap.

For an addition in late April, Simmons is as intriguing as it gets.

He has experience playing both linebacker and safety in his pro career.

When he entered the league the were questions as to where he could play. Those that liked him in the draft would insist that if Simmons did not fit a team’s system, they needed a better system.

To this point at least, that has not been true.

Still, there is plenty of talent to wonder what Jeff Hafley and Rich Bisaccia could do with an athletic marvel like Simmons.

As a rookie he started seven games and earned All-Rookie honors that year.

He had four forced fumbles in 2021, and picked off two passes in 2022.

Where he plays in Green Bay is a good question, since he’s been positionless. Later in Schult'z initial report, he said that Jeff Hafley plans to use him all over the field.

Of 181 defensive snaps for the Giants last season, PFF had him listed as a slot corner for 86 of them, and 73 snaps coming in the box.

In 2022 with the Cardinals he played in the slot, in the box, on the defensive line, on the boundary, and as a free safety.

“I would do everything in college,” Simmons said about his skillset.

“Just kind of like a Swiss Army knife, move me around because I’m able to show what I can really do. I wouldn’t say I’m really tied down to one position.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Packers will be a one-year deal.

It’s hard to envision the Packers giving him much in terms of salary, so this is a deal that comes with little to no risk on the Green Bay’s part.  

Perhaps they view him as a potential key piece to their special teams.

Guys as big and fast as Simmons typically profile well to that phase of the game, and Simmons was one of the best players on special teams alst season with the Giants.

He’s played 563 snaps on special teams during his career, and that included 146 last year with the Giants, where he earned a PFF grade of 88.2.

Depending on how the Packers view him from a positional standpoint, he could be in a competition with players like Zayne Anderson, Kitan Oladapo, and Kristian Welch.

Anderson was one of the staples of the special teams units a season ago. Oladapo was drafted with the idea in mind that he’d be a key contributor on special teams.

Welch was one of the stars of training camp last year as a linebacker, but has made his mark in the NFL as a special teamer, including last year in Baltimore where he was one of the leaders of John Harbaugh’s group.

The reality of the bottom of the roster, is that it continues to churn.

Mecole Hardman is a player who may have been on shaky ground at the end of the draft.

The same will be true for any of the aforementioned players.

Simmons is guaranteed nothing, and the same is true for those he is in a competition with for a spot on the roster.

Green Bay has struck gold in the past with post-draft signing.

The highest end version of that would be signing De’Vondre Campbell to a one-year deal in June of 2021.

Campbell would respond by turning in an All-Pro season, the first and only of his career. He was rewarded the following offseason with a contract extension.

The lower end, and more likely outcome would be something similar to when the Packers signed offensive tackle Dennis Kelly before training camp in 2021.

Kelly was a solid depth piece, but did start the team’s 2021 Divisional Playoff Round loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

At this point of the offseason, if you’re hunting for depth and upside, you could do much worse than the ultra-talented Simmons.