APRIL 10: Simmons will stay with the Giants on a one-year deal worth $2MM, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan tweets. The deal will include $1.4MM for the former Cardinals starter.
APRIL 5: Last summer, Isaiah Simmons saw his time with the Cardinals come to an end. The former top-10 pick was dealt to the Giants with the hope of finding a consistent role on his new team.
Simmons succeeded in earning himself an extended stay in New York. The Giants announced on Friday that he has been re-signed, allowing him to continue his play from the 2023 campaign. Simmons, 25, appeared in all 17 games last season while starting four. He logged a defensive snap share of just 33%, but he chipped in on special teams as well.
Last year injected more instability into Simmons’ situation. Already a hybrid player whose role fluctuated in Arizona, the Cardinals shuttled him from linebacker to safety on a full-time basis. Simmons is believed to have requested the move, but the Cardinals’ new regime instead accepted a low-end return — a seventh-round pick — to ship him to the Giants.
This came after the Cardinals, joining the Ravens (Patrick Queen), Seahawks (Jordyn Brooks) and Chargers (Kenneth Murray), declined the fifth-year option for their 2020 first-round ILB pick. All four of the 2020 draft’s first-round linebackers have since relocated. New York then returned the Clemson alum to a linebacking role but did not install him as a starter.
Simmons, 25, had started 30 games for the Cardinals from 2021-22, including all 17 during the ’21 season. In New York, he played behind Micah McFadden and free agency addition Bobby Okereke. McFadden logged nearly 300 more defensive snaps than Simmons last season, though Pro Football Focus still viewed the trade pickup as a top-35 player at the position. Simmons did return an interception for a 54-yard touchdown — in a midseason win over the Commanders — and start the final three games, but he only saw a full-time workload in one game as a Giant. This brought a change from his high-usage Cardinals past.
After adding Okereke on a $10MM-per-year deal in 2023, the Giants have not made any outside moves at the position this offseason. McFadden remains under contract, but the Giants do have a new defensive coordinator — in Shane Bowen — calling the shots. It will be interesting to see if the new DC is intrigued by the prospect of a former top-10 pick being in the mix and offers an opportunity to vie for a starting role alongside Okereke.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
YESSSSS!
So glad that he resigned with the Giants. Good versatile player with speed and big play ability. Hopefully, the new DC Bowen can set him up to succeed in a regular position.
I’m sure his salary wasn’t big and hopefully it’s at least a 2 year deal.
He seems like a guy whose talent has been used against him. Choose one position for Simmons and let him play. My choice if I were him would be safety, but at linebacker, if played on the outside , he seems like someone who could develop into a good pass rusher. I can’t remember the last player who didn’t have a defined role who was a noteworthy contributor.
Probably a starter next year to replace McKinney. A nice move to bring him back