Bears general manager Ryan Poles made his big swing Wednesday night, offering the most anyone’s ever traded for a defensive tackle in exchange for the Titans’ Jeffery Simmons, who’s playing like the best one on the planet.
Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi had to think about the offer: a first-round pick in 2027 and 2028 and a fourth-rounder in 2027 for the four-time Pro Bowl player and a 2028 fifth-round pick. Borgonzi — who knows Poles from their shared days in the Chiefs’ front office — huddled with coach Robert Saleh talked late into the night and owner Amy Adams-Strunk on Thursday morning.
Then he said yes.
“I don’t think Jeff wanted to leave here. …” Borgonzi told reporters. “I think it’s also a great opportunity for him, too, as I told him, to go someplace here and have an opportunity to compete — now — for the Super Bowl.”
The rest of the NFL views the Bears are Super Bowl contenders.
So do the Bears themselves. Pushing their chips in for Simmons in the biggest trade the franchise has made since the 2018 deal for Khalil Mack makes that abundantly clear. The Bears are 5-2 entering Monday night’s game against the defending champion Seahawks despite having to start three different quarterbacks this year.
Simmons is the league’s best defensive tackle, and the Titans paid him appropriately, giving him a three-year, $105.8 million extension in June. They’ve since paid $20 million of his signing bonus. The Bears owe him just $7.9 million the rest of this year. Simmons has a $22.5 million cap hit next year, a $30.9 million cap hit in 2028 and a $29.1 million hit in 2029.
The price for Simmons, both in money and draft picks, makes the move risky for Poles, who became the first man to ever trade two first-round picks for a defensive tackle.
He gave up more for Simmons than the Cowboys did for 27-year-old defensive tackle Quinnen Williams last year. At 29, Simmons is considerably older than cornerback Sauce Gardner, who was 24, when the Jets dealt him to the Colts last year for two first-round picks. The Colts’ trade for Gardner backfired tremendously, with GM Chris Ballard being fired earlier this month and the team beginning a fire sale.
Thank You, @GrindSimmons94 🩵 pic.twitter.com/CDDeXw8xTe
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) October 29, 2026
Former GM Ryan Pace’s big move — trading two first-round picks, a third-rounder and a sixth-rounder for Mack, a second-rounder and a sixth-rounder — helped propel the Bears to the 2018 NFC North title. The team never won a playoff game, though. When Pace was eventually fired, Poles sent Mack to the Chargers to begin the Bears’ rebuild.
The Simmons deal is about cost — and opportunity cost. The team needs help at defensive end and cornerback in the years to come, particularly if Sweat and Jaylon Johnson don’t return in 2027. The team won’t be able to draft either position in the first round.
The Bears are loudly in win-now mode, though, and are keeping pace in an NFC arms race that just this week saw the Seahawks deal for guard Quenton Nelson and the 49ers Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, in whom the Bears had interest. Both were castoffs in the Colts’ fire sale.
Poles entered the season with concerns about the Bears’ edge rushers, and clamor grew even louder after Montez Sweat — who played at Mississippi State with Simmons —served a two-game drug suspension and Dayo Odeyingbo went on injured reserve. Simmons will help from the inside — he’s the sixth-highest-rated pass rusher among defensive tackles, per Pro Football Focus. The 6-foot-4, 305-pounder has 46 1/2 sacks in eight seasons and is coming off a career-high 11 last year. He had four this season for the 1-6 Titans.
Simmons will slot next to Grady Jarrett in the Bears’ starting lineup. He’ll rarely leave the field, though — he’s played a remarkable 87% of the Titans’ snaps this season. The rest of the Bears’ rotation includes veterans Kentavius Street and Neville Gallimore and rookie Jordan van den Berg.