Tennessee Titans made the right call drafting Jeffery Simmons

So far, so good for Tennessee Titans rookie Jeffery Simmons.

When the Tennessee Titans drafted Jeffery Simmons seven months ago, most fans weren’t sure if they would see him before Thanksgiving and some thought they wouldn’t see him until 2020.

However, all of that doubt was washed away when Simmons made his debut in the all-important game against the L.A. Chargers that kept the Titans from starting 2-5.

While most eyes were on Ryan Tannehill, eagle-eyed fans were watching a different show take place. Simmons was dominating his matchups after only a day or two of NFL practices.

A recent Bleacher Report article put it best saying,

"Not only did Simmons make it back to the field by Week 7, but he’s been a difference-maker since entering the lineup. He’s been dominant at the point of attack, stonewalling ball-carriers and making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks.Simmons has started the last three games for Tennessee and has 12 tackles and a sack on the season. The Titans’ gamble is already paying off."

Even when you don’t see 98 in the backfield, you can see the mass of humanity around him as teams dedicate multiple offensive linemen to try to slow down that freight train.

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While he only has one sacks and two tackles for loss in the “negative play” column, when you look deeper you can see that he is making a clear and quantifiable impact.

In the Chargers game in between goal line stops from Simmons, the man assigned to block him false started, moving the offense back five yards.

Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the next week, offensive linemen responsible for blocking him got called for holding twice and then on another play he forced a cutback leading to a tackle for loss for another defender.

Going back to this past weekend and the big win for the Chiefs, when you look at the Rashaan Evans touchdown, watch what forces the running back to cut back inside. That’s right, it is big number 98 pushing the guard two yards into the backfield and forcing him to reverse course right towards a David Long forced fumble.

Simmons has been great and even when the stats are only pretty good, there is a play or two per game where you look at how someone else was able to blow something up only to see the rookie doing the dirty work.

Great stuff and so far he is doing the little things and the big things correctly, just like Harold Landry, Kevin Byard, Rashaan Evans, and other recent rookies have done early in their careers before breaking out.