5 big concerns for the Tennessee Titans playoff push

4. Jeffery Simmons usage

It is truly shocking to me that Jeffery Simmons is as dominant as he is. Honestly, I wasn’t as high as everyone else on the former Mississippi State DT when he came out and I was concerned that his ceiling was limited based on his lack of pass rush production in college.

That was compounded when he had tore his ACL in February and opinions differed on whether he would be back in Week 10 at the earliest or miss the 2019 season entirely.

He made his first start in Week 7 and had a sack, 2 TFLs and another QB hit. So obviously I was wrong.

Now what surprises me most is that he isn’t on the field on more defensive plays.

The only game all season where Simmons has played more than 60% of the snaps is Week 9 vs the Carolina Panthers when Jurrell Casey was a late scratch. However, when he is on the field he is immediately the best defensive lineman and often the best defensive player as a whole.

If it is 2nd and 10 and you don’t want to play him because you are going with a smaller “pass rush” front, alright fine. I don’t agree with it, but fine.

However, Simmons should be on the field every single 3rd and long, especially when you look at the countless times where Dean Pees rushes just 3 or 4 and no one gets any sort of push.

Since Simmons has been active he has been on the field for just 43.3% of the passing plays but still has 2 sacks, 7 hurries and a deflection that turned into an interception.

Outside of Harold Landry and the occasional Logan Ryan blitz, Simmons is having the most success in the pass rush by far for the Tennessee Titans and needs to be used more.