Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons is back to doing what he’s best known for.
Simmons reprised his role at Titans minicamp on June 10 as a play-wrecking interior lineman during team drills, putting pressure on Titans quarterbacks, including 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.
He also reprised his role as the team’s top trash talker, choosing the Titans’ top pick as his newest target.
“I knew (Ward) was going to talk smack. Everybody was talking about it, me and (he) talked about it this past weekend,” Simmons said after practice at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park. “But I told him, I’m gonna be talking smack to you too.”
The moment happened after a play where Simmons had an obvious sack on Ward, but backed off because of Ward’s no-contact red jersey that all quarterbacks wear. Ward rolled to this right, felt the pressure, then dumped the ball off to running back Tyjae Spears, who made a nice gain.
If the play happens in a live game, Simmons almost certainly sacks Ward. But after the completion to Spears, Ward barked at Simmons anyway, so Simmons barked back.
“When you’ve got an explosive player like (Ward), I’m going to give him (expletive) no matter what,” said Simmons who was absent from the team’s voluntary team activities the previous week,
But what really impressed Simmons after the half-sack, half-completion was how Ward immediately returned to the huddle and regained composure.
“We went back and forth talking smack with each other and he was still able to get back in the huddle and throw the ball down the middle of the field,” Simmons said. “That was the most impressive thing. Not him talking smack to me, but being able to get back in the huddle, getting the play to his guys and still leading the offense.”
Ward finished the day going 10-for-10 and 4-for-4 in two different 11-on-11 sessions at the end of practice. Many of these were short passes in the flat and out of the backfield, but he did hit longer passes to tight end Chig Okonkwo and rookie receiver Elic Ayomanor.
“On game day, I’m going to be rooting for (Ward),” Simmons said. “When you’ve got a quarterback with that much confidence… talking smack to me and then get back in the huddle and able to operate the offense, that’s exciting.”
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex atjdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.