The Tennessee Titans are keeping star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons in the fold for 2023, as the team announced Wednesday that they had exercised the fifth-year option on his deal. Simmons will make a fully guaranteed $10.75 million in 2023, per Spotrac.
Simmons is coming off of a career year in which he recorded 54 combined tackles, 8.5 sacks, 16 QB hits, 12 tackles for loss and six passes defensed. He was rewarded with Second Team All-Pro honors, and his first Pro Bowl selection. Simmons proved he was one of the most dominant interior defensive linemen in the league, as he recorded three sacks in Tennessee’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and three first-half sacks against the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams. Simmons also made the game-saving, goal-line tackle against the Buffalo Bills on “Monday Night Football” in Week 6.
The No. 19 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State is a player expecting a big extension soon, and Titans general manager Jon Robinson said at the NFL‘s annual league meeting that Simmons is “in that top group of guys that we want to keep in Nashville,” per The Tennesseean. According to Spotrac’s market value tool, Simmons is projected to command a four-year, $84.13 million extension that carries an AAV of $21 million. That specific deal would make him the second highest-paid defensive tackle behind Aaron Donald.
Simmons has improved each season, and now is one of the most impactful players at his position. In 41 career games, he has recorded 135 combined tackles, 13.5 sacks and 32 QB hits.
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