The Chicago Bears enjoyed the fruits of their labor earlier this week when Jeffery Simmons, their newly acquired star defensive tackle, rampaged over the Seattle Seahawks. It was one of the biggest blockbuster trades of the year, seeing them ship two 1st round picks to Tennessee for the 29-year-old All-Pro. Yet somehow the attention from that monumental move has been diverted to the New York Giants, who’ve kicked up a media storm because they weren’t happy that Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi shut them out of the process.
New York was repeatedly told that Simmons wasn’t available over the past couple of weeks. Unwilling to accept that, Giants head coach John Harbaugh tried to bypass Borgonzi by calling Titans owner Amy Adams-Sistrunk. It didn’t work. The primary complaint is that he felt the Bears were getting preferential treatment because Borgonzi and general manager Ryan Poles are friends. Sure, that was part of it. However, there is another reason that the Giants have conveniently tried to downplay. Charles Robinson of NFL Blue Book revealed it in his latest column.
The Titans knew Jeffery Simmons talks with the Giants would fail.
“This really came down to trust. It’s clear the Titans were trying to keep talks regarding Simmons as quiet as possible. Due to the assets it would take to acquire him, there was a high-percentage chance that a deal wouldn’t work out. Ultimately, the two NFC teams kept talks completely under wraps. And we only know that one of those teams was the Bears because they actually got the deal done. Regarding that aspect, I’ll just go ahead and say it: I don’t think the Titans trusted the Giants to keep the talks private. I think Tennessee believed that any unsuccessful talks with the Giants would have been leaked. And frankly, given what has unfolded since the trade went down, I think the Titans were right.”
New York couldn’t afford Jeffery Simmons.
This idea that they could’ve matched or beaten the Bears’ offer is pure fantasy. They didn’t have the assets, and Tennessee knew it. Rather than waste his time on talks he knew would be pointless, Borgonzi made sure they never started by stating that Simmons wasn’t available. The last thing he wanted was to talk with a team that would let the news leak the moment it didn’t go their way. That is why teams are reluctant to make deals with New York these days. Other front offices don’t like that kind of media attention.
The Giants, of course, swiftly proved them correct when the Harbaugh story leaked. Say what you want about Poles, one thing the Bears general manager has never been is loose with information. He’s been remarkably effective at keeping the team’s plans under careful lock and key. Big moves like the Montez Sweat trade, the blockbuster D.J. Moore trade, and the selection of Colston Loveland in the 2025 draft were huge surprises. No insiders correctly predicted any of them. That vow of secrecy is probably why other teams don’t mind doing business with the Bears.
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The Giants have nobody to blame but themselves.
Their reputation is well-earned. Keeping secrets in that building is like quantum physics. Almost impossible. Either the media there is way too good, or the organization hasn’t done a good enough job sussing out the moles. Then you have their decision to trade Dexter Lawrence. New York already had a dominant interior player on their roster and gave him up. Don’t expect another team to bail you out of a jam you created in the first place. That isn’t how this league works.
If you don’t like being treated a certain way, do a better job of cleaning up the problems other teams see in your operations. The Bears aren’t perfect, but they’ve never been accused of half the stuff New York has in recent years. Maybe the Simmons saga will serve as a bit of a wake-up call for them. In all honesty, that is unlikely. Most people never fix their most fundamental flaws.
