A Day After Expecting to Stay, Simmons Is Traded to the Bears

NASHVILLE – Jeffery Simmons told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he had heard nothing from his agent or the Tennessee Titans, and that as far as he knew he would be staying. By Thursday morning, the All-Pro defensive tackle had been traded to the Chicago Bears.

The Titans will receive Chicago’s first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, plus a 2027 fourth-round pick. The Bears get Simmons and a 2028 fifth-round pick. The two teams agreed to terms Thursday, pending a physical.

The speed is the story. Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi said he never intended to move Simmons, and that earlier calls about the player never persuaded him a trade made sense until Bears general manager Ryan Poles phoned Wednesday night. Borgonzi then talked with coach Robert Saleh and controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk, and accepted the offer Thursday morning.

For a 1-6 Tennessee team, the deal turns its most valuable player into a rebuilding kit. For the 5-2 Chicago Bears, who face the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, it is a bet that this season is worth chasing. The NFL trade deadline is Nov. 10.

Borgonzi framed the decision around timing. The Titans have been in some games, he said, but “the record is what it is,” and a roster has to be judged on a “three-year window” of players under contract. Borgonzi called the trade “the best decision moving forward for us, as hard as it is,” in order to “accelerate that process.”

The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero broke the news Thursday morning, and the Titans confirmed the terms in an official announcement.

Simmons, 29, spent all eight of his NFL seasons in Tennessee after the Titans drafted him in the first round in 2019. He is a four-time Pro Bowler and five-time captain, with 46.5 sacks and 72 tackles for loss over that span, and he earned his first First Team AP All-Pro selection in 2025. He was the team’s first non-specialist First Team All-Pro since Kevin Byard in 2021, and Derrick Henry before that. All three now play elsewhere.

The Titans signed Simmons to an extension in June that runs through 2030. NFL.com reports it as a three-year, $105.8 million deal with $100 million guaranteed, which means Chicago is acquiring a long-term contract rather than a rental. Philadelphia made Jalen Carter the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history in July, so the position’s market was already moving.

On the field, Simmons has 28 pressures, the most among defensive tackles entering Week 8, according to Next Gen Stats cited by NFL.com. He is also tied for the second-most run stops among defensive tackles with 21. He joins a Chicago front that expects edge rusher Montez Sweat back from a two-game suspension and includes veteran Grady Jarrett. NFL.com’s Nick Shook writes that the Bears see an open title window while quarterback Caleb Williams and other young contributors remain on rookie deals.

The picks carry their own uncertainty. If Simmons helps Chicago succeed, NFL.com notes, the first-rounders it sent to Tennessee will land in the back quarter of the round, slightly reducing their value. The Athletic’s projected 2027 draft order has the Titans picking No. 1 and No. 27 after the trade, and counts five first-round picks that have already changed hands. The Tennessean reports Tennessee now holds four first-rounders across the 2027 and 2028 drafts.

Strunk said in a statement that the franchise was “forever grateful for all he has given this team and this city,” and credited his Give ‘Em A Reason Foundation with changing lives in Middle Tennessee and Mississippi. Borgonzi said Simmons did not want to leave, but he called the move a chance for the veteran to compete at the highest level now.

Two things remain unsettled. The announcements describe the trade as pending a physical and do not say when Simmons might debut for Chicago. Whether Tennessee, now holding the picks it wanted, makes more moves before Nov. 10 is the other open question.