The surprising deal that sent star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons to Chicago did not come together overnight. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Bears general manager Ryan Poles had personally checked in on Simmons several times over the past couple weeks, but as Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated points out, one could trace the roots of this trade back 19 years.
That’s how far back Poles and Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi go. The two first met at Boston College in 2007 where Borgonzi worked as a recruiting assistant and Poles played as a starting guard on the offensive line. Poles was considered a leader on the team and was tasked by Borgonzi with hosting visiting recruits. Coincidentally, Poles signed with the Bears as an undrafted free agent after graduating, but after he failed to make the initial 53-man roster, Borgonzi helped him land on his feet with a graduate assistant position that needed filling after Trey Koziol — currently the Bears senior director of player personnel — vacated the role.
A personnel staffer with the nearby professional team in New England, Scott Pioli, became acquainted with the pair, and when he eventually accepted the GM position in Kansas City, he brought Borgonzi and Poles along for the ride. Sharing an apartment when they first started in Kansas City — and living next door to now-Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni — the two began their climb through the scouting ranks. Poles followed in Pioli’s footsteps, landing the Bears’ job in 2022, and Borgonzi followed suit three years later in Tennessee. Then, in 2026, the former roommates and collegiate teammates worked to reunite Simmons with a former college teammate of his own in Bears defensive end Montez Sweat,
Prior to agreeing on yesterday’s deal, both teams trusted some research into historical outcomes from similar types of trades. Poles’ focus was on how the results of the trade might pan out. With the Bears squarely in the NFC North race at a healthy 5-2, the GM in Chicago has Super Bowl aspirations. In a statement to the media (via Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team), Poles explained that, dating back to 2018, every Super Bowl-winning team had what he called “a red-level defensive lineman” on the roster.
The Seahawks enjoyed the services of Leonard Williams, the Eagles had a number of talented bigs to choose from, Kansas City obviously enjoyed the elite play of Chris Jones, the Rams had (and now have again) Aaron Donald, and the Buccaneers had both Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh. The Bears’ interior pair of Grady Jarrett and Kentavius Street, with Neville Gallimore and Shemar Turner behind them, have been serviceable to start their 2026 campaign, but they’ve been a bit of a weak spot on the defense, still. Adding Simmons to the mix should immediately change the potency of the unit, and per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Poles expects Simmons to play against the Rams on Monday but will leave it up to the coaching staff.
In Nashville, Borgonzi and Co.’s research regarded the aftereffects of such a monumental trade on the franchise receiving draft capital. Per Breer, they found that such deals have the capability to accelerate a team’s rebuild timeline. The Texans shipped off Deshaun Watson and quickly became a perennial postseason squad with the help of assets like Will Anderson Jr. The Lions parted ways with Matthew Stafford and, along with Jared Goff, returned draft picks that would become Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, and Jameson Williams. Trading away Russell Wilson helped Seattle land Charles Cross, Boye Mafe, Devon Witherspoon, and Derick Hall.
Borgonzi had reportedly been hesitant to shop Simmons, knowing that if the talks didn’t develop into a deal, he would pay a hefty toll in the locker room. He didn’t assert a no-trade policy on Simmons, though, rather teams only ever seemed to be fishing for Simmons without making any hard offers, leading to simple and clean “nos.” The Bears had missed out on the DeForest Buckner-trade and opted to make a huge swing at a game-changer like Simmons. After researching the types of packages that helped rebuild contending franchises and hearing the latest offer from his old friend in Chicago on the heels of offers from three other teams, Borgonzi found himself at a point at which he couldn’t say “no” anymore, per Schultz.
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