Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Breaking down the Jeffery Simmons introductory presser

Episode Date: April 29, 2019

Last Friday the Titans introduced Jeffery Simmons to the local media. This press conference offered some valuable insight into Simmons as a person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome in to a little bit special edition of Locked On Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris by myself today. Usually I'm joined by Terry Lambert, but Terry's out of town for a couple of days. And so I'm going to do this show by myself. I hope to catch up with Justin Mello in the next day or two to break down the Titans draft before Terry gets back in town. So be looking for that. Subscribe to the podcast Locked On, so you'll get that episode as soon as it's available. Also, I remind you, right from UCMiracles.com, cover the Titans for SB Nation. So you can check us out there. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at TLambertTN. Today we're going to dive into the Jeffrey Simmons introductory press conference.

I know there was a lot of talk around the Jeffrey Simmons pick when it was made. He obviously had a really ugly incident while he was still in high school where he hit a woman. The details of that are out there. The video is out there. If you haven't seen it yet, if you want to see it, you can watch it. You can draw your own conclusions there. I know that there are people who are zero tolerance on this issue, and so they say, you know what? Jeffrey Simmons did that.

I'm writing him off forever. That's fine. That's your prerogative. I don't really have anything against that. I will say every situation is created differently. And I think that more than anything else, how somebody reacts to a situation after it happens, how somebody reacts to a mistake after it happens, says more about them and their character than the incident itself does.

And I think when you listen to Jeffrey Simmons talk, I think you can tell that, number one, he takes responsibility for his actions. You know, if you remember when Pac-Man was here, he never, nothing was ever his fault. It was always something else. Somebody did this, somebody did that, you know, whatever it was. Never apologized, All that stuff. Jerry Simmons doesn't shy away from it. He says what happened. He says he made a mistake. He has gone to great lengths to be in the community and to do things to, quote, make up for that incident. I thought that his introductory press conference here was just a good indication into who he is as a person, what his character actually is.

And I walked away believing that Jeffrey Simmons is a person who made a mistake. I think there are bad people. This is what Mike Vrabel said. I think the night Simmons was drafted. There are bad people and there are good people who make mistakes. I think Jeffrey Simmons falls into the category of a good person who made a mistake. And I think that this press conference really sheds some light on that. So I'm going to play that now.

The audio is courtesy of Titans Online. I pulled the audio from there. So I think just getting an idea of kind of from the beginning to after the part where Amy Adams Strunk talks, and then Simmons talks a little bit after her. So listen to that. It's a pretty long recording, but I think it does give you a good idea into who this person actually is. Exciting day here at St. Thomas Sports Park.

You know, we talked about it last night, the excitement level we had to add Jeff to our team and to our family. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to his family that's here, Miss Brenda, his sisters, Miss Ashley and Miss Brooke, his brother Dylan, and his girlfriend back home, Miss Adrian, who's probably watching with little Jeff. And with that, we'll open it up for questions. Jeff, I guess what have the last 24 hours been like for you? Still surprising. I'm still trying to soak it all in. You know, I got to tell my mom earlier, you know, it still feels unreal. I say I'm just enjoying the process right now and join this moment

And especially my family since they was able to come up here to the organization, you know, I'm just appreciative thankful You know, I'm just glad to be here from a young man's perspective, how did that alter, not alter, but just kind of influence your viewpoint of things going forward? I mean, you just got to live for more than what you was living for. You know, me personally, you know, I have motivation, but now I have another motivation that, you know, I'm not just living for Jeffrey right now. I'm living for little Jeffrey, you know.

So it's like, you know, every day I wake up, you know, I got to get better for him. I got to be a better man for him. So, you know, I'm a role model to my son. So, that's what I'm living for right now. How do you like the way this team plays defense, and how do you think you fit in? The aggressive style of defense to play here, you know, knowing Cole Williams, you know,

I just, when we sat down and watched film together, it's just like, you know, attacking, attacking. The way I play the game, you know, knowing Coach Williams, you know, I just, when we sat down and watched film together, just like, you know, attacking, attacking. The way I play the game, you know, I play the game with full force. I, you know, I play the game with passion. You know, the way I play the game, I'm going to bring it to this defense. I'm going to bring it to this team.

You know, the best way I know how to play. And that's the, I mean, that's, I know this, that's what they bring me here for. And so I'm going to give it to them every, every day, not just on Sundays, you know, every day I step in the building, I know that's what they bring me here for. And so I'm going to give it to them every day, not just on Sundays, you know, every day I step in the building, you know, in the community as well. So I'm excited, like I said. They're getting a great play out of me. You and your college teammate, Luntez,

were both considered potential high-force ground picks. Both ended up having health concerns for one reason or another. How much communication did you have with them over the last 24, 36 hours? Because you're kind of dealing with the same types of stuff. I mean, we can only control what we control, and that's what I tell him. I told him, you know, he was like, man, you know, so much going on all of a sudden.

But I told him, man, we can only control what we control, just trust the process. And that's just been, you know, our mindset. So, you know, just stay focused. Were you always changing kind of texts and stuff during the day or has it made progress for you? Yes you know, our mindset. So, you know, just stay focused. Were you able to change the context and stuff during the day? Or has the night progressed for you? Yes, sir, we did. You know, like I said, he was with his family, I was with my family.

So, you know, before that morning, before the draft and whatnot, we talked, me and other teammates as well. You know, we just, you know, congratulate each other, you know, wishing each other luck. Jeffrey, can you – I know you touched on it last night, but can you kind of clarify your sort of timeline in your mind for the medical rehab and recovering from the injury? Right now, you know, I'm just attacking my rehab every day.

You know, don't know when. Right now, like I said, I'm going to rehab every day. A couple weeks when I get here, I'm going to attack the rehab. Whenever that time comes, you know, for me to get on the field, get out there and help the team win, I'm going to give it my all until then. You know, I'm just taking it day by day to try to get this rehab right, get my knee better. Stell, you were shedding some tears on the phone with these guys last night.

What was going through your mind, and why was that moment so special? I mean, just the thought of it that, you know, I'm getting an opportunity to do what I love. And, you know, for people up here to trust me, for the, you know, like I said, to trust me and just show me that, you know, they're going to bring me in. They trust me to come in here, do what I need to do on and off the field. Just I felt the relief, you know, because I because I was worried yesterday. I don't know what's

going to happen. I'm sitting there with my family. Everybody probably questioning where he's going to go. Everything I've been through, all praise is God. He brought me through it. He brought me through it for a reason. Like I said, this organization here stuck with me. You know, I would not let this organization down. I'm proud to be a Tennessee Titan. How has your relationship grown with John and Mike over the course of the last several weeks leading up to the pick? Like I said, I talked to him earlier this spring. We had communication from here and there. But like I said, it's going to have to keep getting better.

I mean, apparently, like I said, I'm here, so they trust me. So, like I said, our relationship only can get stronger from here on out. Like how important will it be for Jeffrey as he works his way into playing to watch what others are doing and kind of keep himself up with the playing? Well, I mean, I think that's always part of the process is how you deal with injuries. We understand the injury rate in this game is 100%. And it's how a player deals with an injury,

how they deal with adversity, and then how they stay connected to their team. I think that's the biggest thing. It's not how long it's going to be back is that connection with your teammates and building the bond with the team, staying engaged. Sometimes the players have a tendency when they're injured and not out there, we're going to go out on the field on Monday,

and then there's going to be some players just like Jeff that won't be out there with them. They'll have their own plan, and we try to bring guys along at their speed and then try to make sure that they're engaged in meetings and engaged in walkthroughs when we have them. You were a human development major and you excelled in that honorable perspective. What went into you choosing that major? Well, I started off in kinesiology. And, you know, over time, I'm just sitting there meeting with my advisor from time to time, going to see her.

And she's like, what do you really want to do in life after football? And, you know, my thing was I want to be a mentor, you know, and that's what put me in that major. You know, coming up as a child, I didn't have that father figure in my life. So I was talking to, like, men in my life that were showing me the way, showing me how to, you know, carry myself. And from that point on, like, you you know this is what I want to do this I want to go get you know a young man they don't have a father in his life and just show him a way that you know just give back what I got

and and that's just been my mindset like now you know I have a little cousin right now you know just you know trying to talk to him showing the way like I said I that's – I didn't have a father figure, so, I mean, other people out there that I know don't have a father. And that's just my mindset. Go be a mentor, you know, help out in the community. Getting back to Montez, I talked to him a lot throughout the process. He said you guys were so competitive in practice, games, et cetera. What was it like?

What was that situation like, You and he competing two of them. I mean, that's what it takes for to have a great team, a great defense, you know, especially in the D-line room. We have at Mississippi State, we have a high standard, you know. We call it the D-block standard. And we pushing each other every day to be the best we could be. And, you know, we see one person down, we're going to get that next person up. And every day, like I said, having a guy like Montez coming off the edge,

you can't ask for much more. So, like I said, it started in the summer workouts, the winter workouts. You know, we're holding each other accountable. That's the first thing, you know, being able to hold yourself accountable so you can hold each other accountable. So, I mean, that's just how our room was. You know, that's why I feel like me as a person, I bring to this organization, you know, in that D-line room.

I'm young. I'm a rookie coming in. But, you know, I feel like I'm going to be able to help lead off the field as well since I'm not able to play right now. That's a pretty unique perspective for you to be thinking about what you're wanting to do after football even before you essentially got to football. How much has that mature mindset helped you over the past couple years?

I mean, it's just you never know what happened. You know, like right now I'm sitting here with an injury, you know, coming off the knee injury, like I said. You don't know when your last snap of football may be. You know, I love the games. You know, I don't play with that mindset, but it's life. It's one of them things that you have to have a plan B. I'm not thinking about that plan B right now, but like I said,

it's just one of them things in my mindset that I know what I want to do after football, so that's why we're going to school for it. I wonder if you could address, certainly just for him, what I want to do after football so that's why we're going to school for so well John and Mike came to me months ago, and we discussed the incident. We watched the video together. And, you know, it begins with trust for Mike and John that I was able to get comfortable, but they were both very respectful that I needed to be comfortable because at the end of the day, I have the final decision.

because at the end of the day, I have the final decision. So, you know, it was a process, but it did not take me long to see that this young man had an incident when he was in high school. And, you know, we all can look back on our lives in high school and wish we'd done things differently. But you can talk. I'm sorry. in high school and wish we'd done things differently but you can talk I'm sorry you can the best thing is is that he's lived the life of I'm truly sorry and

I'm gonna be a good man and so that made it really easy for me to become comfortable with Jeffrey and we're getting a great football player that goes without saying but we're getting a great man and John and Mike too especially you know our locker room is so important and we only have good men in there and this young man is a good man Is this as involved as you think with a pick? Well, yes. And I'd say yes because John wanted to make sure that I knew all the facts and knew what had happened. And, you know, we're so pleased to have him.

And Nashville is going to really be pleased with what they see this next year not only as a football player but when he's out in the community because that's important to him and you know Nashville we're a nation that gives second chances and this young man Jeffrey Simmons he deserved that second chance. Did you have any direct conversations with him before you took the decision? You know, I did not. I mean, we honestly weren't sure that Jeffrey would even be there. So they kept me kind of in the loop the whole time. I read reports.

I had all the information I needed to make an informed decision. Jeffrey, I know you talked last night about how you were happy with this organization. You've given your statement. I guess where your emotions come from today is Amy had some nice things to say about you. I mean, it's coming from a woman, you know. Like I said, I made that mistake, and I regret it.

Just to hear her say all that, I'm grateful. Like I said, keep what she said with trust. Tell her in front of you guys that she can trust me. I won't let her down. I won't let either one of these guys down. Like I said, I'm grateful. I guess you get to play, but obviously you're passionate about the game and passionate about wanting to prove yourself as a man.

That just kind of makes you happy as a young man. Yeah, I mean, the film speaks for itself. When you go and watch this guy play live, when you put the film on, he's a guy that I think my 13 and 10-year-old daughters could scout. Especially my 13-year-old. She follows it pretty good. She may be working for us soon.

She might take you up on that. But when, like I said last night, when people in Starkville speak so highly of a young man and how he turned a mistake into giving back to a community, giving back to a school, and me spending half a day with him. And the three hours that we've spent together, me with him, me with his family.

The decision was always clear, but today it was crystal. So like I said there, you know, Jeffrey Simmons is a guy that obviously made a bad mistake, but I do think that he's absolutely a guy who wants to atone for that mistake a guy who has really dedicated himself to not being that person to being better than that so i i am a jeffrey simmons fan i became a jeffrey simmons fan after watching this especially uh really really like what the titans did here i think they really did this the best possible way they could have amy adam shrunk was obviously great um talking through her experience with all of this and how uh you know john robinson mike variable came to her to get her opinion on

the whole thing talked about how she has final say she could have you know stopped that if she wanted to so i think that was just a just a really good way of handling it, a really good way of introducing him to this city. And I think we're going to really enjoy watching him play and really enjoy having him as part of the community here. And then obviously the other part of the Simmons deal is the ACL. We're not going to see him on the field until I would imagine at least November. I don't know what we'll get from him at that point.

But I do think that he's a guy that definitely, definitely would have gone in the top ten had he not had the ACL. So, yeah, I mean, you take a little bit of a hit in the first year, not having him out there at the beginning of the year. But I think over the life of his contract, which is going to be for a fifth-year option, four-year, fifth-year option, however that ends up playing out,

I think the Titans are going to be thrilled with this pick, and I'm really excited about it. Really excited, honestly, about what they did with the whole draft. So, like I said, we're going to have a lot more on this, obviously. Get Mello in here to break down these picks. I know we did shows after day one and day two, so if you missed either one of those, you can go back and listen to them. If you're missing shows and not really sure what you're doing, just go ahead and subscribe. You'll get the new ones as soon as they're available.

We'll have a little bit of a lull here after we get done breaking down the draft but what we're gonna try to do is get interviews with maybe players but it's but definitely guys in the media uh guys you've heard of mike keith jim wyatt jonathan hutton all those types of guys we'll be doing interviews with them and you know kind of longer form interviews and breaking them down into two or three different episodes so that we still keep our 20, 23-minute format so that you can listen to them in one sitting but get their perspective on just all kinds of things. This team, this draft, Mike Vrabel, the city, the way the draft looked in the city, and all that kind of stuff.

I mean, all these guys have been here for quite a while, and so they have a lot of unique perspective on how far the city of Nashville has come as a sports city. So plenty of that stuff coming up. So like I said, go ahead and just hit that subscribe button. You won't be sorry that you did. We're going to be pumping out plenty of quality content from now, you know, through the offseason.

Now that I think it's officially the offseason after the draft is really when the offseason starts. I've been to a training camp, and obviously, you know, we'll beseason. Now that I think it's officially the offseason after the draft is really when the offseason starts. Up until training camp, then obviously, you know, we'll be covering it daily after that. So anyway, that's all for today. Again, museummiracles.com. Still a lot of stuff around the draft going up there. So check that out.

Follow me on Twitter at jmorrismcm. So this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you again later.