Rich: Why Jeffrey Simmons Was Worth the Cost of Two Bears’ 1st-Round Draft Picks

The Chicago Bears paid two first-round picks and a fourth for Jeffery Simmons. Rich's verdict is simple: you get what you pay for.

Rich had wanted a GoPro on anybody around Joe Burrow the moment Burrow learned Simmons was no longer on the Titans, the Bengals' opponent this weekend. No comment from Burrow yet. But Bengals center Ted Karras gave the honest version. Asked what it's like to lose a big piece of an opponent's game plan mid-week, Karras said, "Well, two hours of anxiety last night is gone." He went on to praise the Titans who remain, including John Franklin-Myers, before conceding the obvious: "a dynamic player is on the Bears."

The view from the other side was just as telling. Quenton Nelson, the former Colt who faced Simmons twice a year, was asked in his introductory press conference in Seattle about seeing Simmons traded to his next opponent. "He's an amazing football player and competitor," Nelson said. "And yeah, I was like, man, can't get away from this guy."

"Now you know why," Rich said, "in case you're still wondering."

Rich's son Cooper told him just the day before that two firsts and a fourth is a lot. Rich agreed, and explained it the way you'd explain shopping. You can buy something that keeps you warm and looks nice but may not survive the wash. Or you can buy the thing that is "going to 1,000% be something that gets through the wash," the one you'll feel good in, which also happens to be the most expensive. "If you can afford it, go for it." Rich was careful to acknowledge that affordability is a major conversation in the country right now, and said he was only making an analogy. "That's Jeffery Simmons."

Could the Bears find somebody to plug a hole in the middle or rush the passer? Sure. "You want the best of the best? You have to pay for it." The center avoiding him calls it two hours of anxiety, and the lineman about to face him says he can't get away from him. Get that guy, Rich said, and your chances of being a Super Bowl team go up.

Ryan Poles laid out the thinking. "If you do the research, Super Bowl teams, really probably you go back to 2018, since then, they all have what we call like a red level interior defensive lineman," Poles said. "So, in order to get to that, you need one." The draft doesn't always provide that and free agency rarely does, he said, so the Bears stayed "opportunistic" and jumped. "It's going to help us short term and long term."

"Hell yeah, it will," Rich said. Will that first-round pick land someone who impacts the team like Simmons? Probably not.

Rich pointed to the Bengals as the case study. They faced the same choice in the spring: hope to find someone like Dexter Lawrence at 10th overall, or flip the 10th pick to the Giants and just get Lawrence. They got Lawrence, and now they are 4-2 and looking at a 5-2 start against a Titans team without Simmons. The Giants got a first-round pick for Lawrence and have Francis Mauigoa making their offensive line much better, yet Jeremy Fowler reported the Giants were looking for interior line help and were in on Simmons. Rich also floated whether Cincinnati might look for someone at Caleb Downs' position, the player they passed on, whom Dallas took with the next pick.

Then there is the family angle. Press Taylor is the Bears' offensive coordinator. His brother Zac is the Bengals' head coach. Press described getting a FaceTime from Zac "with just a huge smile," thinking his brother was happy for him, until Zac pointed out the Bengals play the Titans this week. "That makes a lot more sense why you're excited," Press said.

As for the Titans, Rich understood the rebuild logic, with two firsts in hand that may land closer to the second round given how good the Bears could be. The open question is who responds. The Vikings, Packers and Lions all have to improve. And with the Colts having "entered the NFC West chat," Rich wondered if Les Snead is calling Ed Dodds in Indianapolis to ask what's left.