In his eight-year NFL career, Jeffery Simmons has distinguished himself as the kind of dynamic player a franchise keeps all communication channels open for. Even despite the Tennessee Titans' losing in recent years, Simmons was one of their biggest champions. This, on top of his play as a disruptive, perennial All-Pro defensive tackle. So you'd think the Titans' organizational leadership would, at the very least, tell the superstar defender he was about to be traded from a place he didn't want to leave.
You would, unfortunately, be wrong.
After the Titans traded Simmons away to the Chicago Bears — in turn, giving Caleb Williams an understandable jolt of excitement — the team's general manager, Mike Borgonzi, revealed a stunning tidbit about the blockbuster
deal. Even despite Simmons' status as the Titans' clear franchise player, he didn't find out about the monster trade ... until it was done.
Wait, what?
That's right. In fact, when Bears general manager Ryan Poles called Borgonzi to initiate trade talks on Wednesday night, Borgonzi said he wasted no time putting everything into motion once the two teams agreed upon the trade compensation. This meant that Simmons was on the outside looking in on the process the entire time as Tennessee dealt him away for the princely sum of two first-round draft picks. Phew.
I don't know that that's how I would personally treat a departing star player, even if it is to a Super Bowl contender. The least Borgonzi could've done is give Simmons and his agent a heads-up text. But Borgonzi clearly must have felt that informing Simmons of the deal would've thrown a snag into the deal, so he wasted no time moving on it:
Mike Borgonzi said Jeffery Simmons didn't want to leave and was surprised by the trade. pic.twitter.com/dC4b3ZaiUP
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) October 29, 2026
Even if the outcome is probably the best for both parties — Simmons will get to play for championships in his prime, while the Titans get more assets to build around Cam Ward — that is cold-blooded business, dearest readers. I think all of us already knew this, but it goes to show you that loyalty only goes so far in the NFL. We'll have to see how Simmons responds to this emotional change, if at all, as he sets his sights on Chicago.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Titans GM revealed a really surprising fact about the Jeffery Simmons trade
