PFF re-grades Titans’ 2019 first-round pick, Jeffery Simmons
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In his second season after the Tennessee Titans drafted him in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft, defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons took a step forward to becoming a star defensive lineman in 2020.
Simmons was a force and a major disruptor upfront for the Titans, finishing with three sacks, 14 QB hits, 49 combined tackles (three for loss) and five passes defensed.
Considering the Titans got him at No. 19 overall after he was projected to be a top-10 pick before his ACL injury, Simmons is looking like quite the steal and is just one piece of what was an impressive draft class overall.
Pro Football Focus’ Anthony Treash recently did a re-grade of every first-round pick from 2019, and he gave the Titans an “excellent” mark for their pick of Simmons. Here’s his breakdown of the grade:
Simmons would have likely gone inside the top 10 had he not torn his ACL prior to the draft, so the Titans received impressive value here. Simmons was not expected to see the field during his rookie campaign, but he defied the odds and made his debut in Week 7, logging 397 snaps on the year. Simmons flashed some dominant reps en route to a 67.2 PFF grade and took a leap forward in 2020. This past season, Simmons had two of the best games we saw at the position from a player not named Aaron Donald with a 92.8 PFF grade in Week 3 and a 94.2 in Week 9. That led to him finishing the year with an 83.6 PFF grade, the eighth-highest at the position.
Now we just need to see Simmons consistently perform and produce at that elite-level more often since he only generated three games with a PFF grade over 80.0.
While Simmons’ impact tailed off as the season progressed, that was more a result of his facing more double and triple teams than anything else.
Now it’s up to general manager Jon Robinson to surround his budding superstar lineman with more help in order to take some pressure off.
It’s scary to think what Big Jeff will be capable of once he’s freed up more often, and, in turn, the focus that Simmons will continue to draw will do wonders once there’s more talent in the Titans’ front seven.
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