Titans players react to Jeffery Simmons trade: 'Obviously hurts'

A day after Jeffery Simmons addressed reporters about his desire to be a Tennessee Titan, his locker room seat was empty. It was a far cry from his belief that he wasn't going to be traded .

"I haven't heard from my agent, anything from this organization," Simmons told reporters before practice Oct. 28. "As far as I know, I'm going to be here ."

By the morning of Oct. 29, the four-time Pro Bowl selection and 2025 First-Team All-Pro no longer had use for that jersey. He's not going to be here. He was traded to the Chicago Bears earlier that morning, a move that spread "shock" and "surprise" throughout the Titans locker room.

Jeffery Simmons, Tennessee Titans defensive lineman in NFL

"Definitely was surprised and shocked," said Titans safety Amani Hooker, who, like Simmons, was drafted by Tennessee in 2019 and spent his whole career playing with him. "I've been with Jeff ... The last game of my college career was the Outback Bowl versus Mississippi State. Then we trained for the combine together, then got drafted together.

"Great friend. Hell of a player. Obviously hurts."

What John Franklin-Myers said about Titans trading Jeffery Simmons to Bears

The Titans' plan when they signed John Franklin-Myers to a three-year deal in March 2026 was for him Jeffery Simmons to form a disruptive duo on the defensive line.

Thanks to some injuries to the former, that never really panned out.

"We didn't (talk)," Franklin-Myers said of he and Simmons after the trade. "Truthfully, it happened so fast, (expletive), life goes on.

Inside Titans vs Browns. Cam Ward, Jeffery Simmons and our best photos

"The sad part of the business is we all wish we could've spent the next three hours with him and hugged and whatever. It don't matter. Life goes on. You've got to continue to build. Practice starts in 15 minutes. We're going to go out there and compete and get better and that's the name of the game."

What JC Latham said about Titans trade of Jeffery Simmons to Bears

Titans offensive lineman JC Latham, like his teammates, was surprised to hear Simmons had been traded.

"He was a great leader," Latham said. "You really saw the pain on his face this morning when the news broke. We took a brief second, as a team, just to say whatever we had to say, get it off our chest.

"That's when you could see how much this team meant to him, and how much the city meant to him. ... He's grown here. He's become an icon here. He's become a pillar of the community, a leader, the best player at his position. He means so much not only to the team, but the city of Nashville and the whole state of Tennessee."

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina .