The Bears are acquiring defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from the Titans, per CBS Sports. Yahoo Sports reported the price as two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick going to Tennessee. Yahoo's pieces describe Simmons as a three-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler. CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported that Simmons is getting a chance to play for a contender. The feeds we have don't say which years the picks are for, whether they are the Bears' own, or whether any salary is part of the deal. They also don't say whether the trade has been officially announced.
Simmons has played well in a bad Tennessee season. In seven games he has 38 tackles, 4 sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4 passes defensed, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. His 4 sacks are well short of his 11 in 15 games last year, but he is on pace for a similar tackle total. That production came on a team that is 1-6, fourth in the AFC South, with a run differential of minus 48. Its most recent game was a 27-24 home loss to Cleveland on Oct. 25.
For the Titans, one Yahoo columnist wrote that it will take a while to get over the shock of the trade. He called two first-rounders "a great haul" and credited general manager Mike Borgonzi with maximizing the return. The same column asks what the deal says about quarterback Cam Ward, and our numbers show why the question is fair. Ward is completing 62.0 percent of his passes for 1,179 yards, 5.7 yards per attempt, through seven games. We don't have the column's full argument, so we won't guess where it lands. Tennessee's next game is at Cincinnati on Sunday, Nov. 1, without Simmons if the deal goes through.
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Chicago is 5-2 and two games behind the unbeaten Vikings in the NFC North. The Bears have won two straight, 31-23 at Atlanta and 30-24 against New England. Their last loss was a 31-7 defeat at Green Bay on Oct. 11. Yahoo wrote that general manager Ryan Poles "has added the destroyer of worlds to his front seven." One Yahoo headline calls the move a trade-deadline swap. Another says Simmons is in line to make his Bears debut in Seattle.
That game is Monday, Nov. 2. The Seahawks are 4-3, second in the NFC West, and coming off a 20-3 win over Kansas City. Seattle has allowed 3 points or fewer only once in our recent sample, but it also lost 32-29 to San Francisco and 17-14 at Denver this month.
Yahoo also framed the deal around the NFC West, with a headline saying another NFC contender made a massive move after the 49ers traded for DeForest Buckner. Buckner is listed with the Colts in our data. He has 31 tackles and 4 sacks this season. That headline is the only one of our sources that mentions the Buckner trade, so we have no terms for it. San Francisco is 6-1 and leads the division. It is coming off a 29-20 loss at Atlanta and next plays Las Vegas on Nov. 8.
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