New Circumstances Can Net The Bears A Dominant Prospect

We're now in NFL Draft season. Players are training for the combine coming up in 14 days and are pushing themselves to beat their personal records. Unfortunately, there's always one or two injuries each year that occur because of this intense training the players are put through...and 2019 is no different. Jeffery Simmons, a Defensive Tackle prospect out of Mississippi State, has torn his ACL.

Simmons Was A Projected Top-15 Pick

Simmons was a standout at Mississippi State. He finished this season with 63 total tackles, 18 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. While those are impressive numbers for a DL/DT, watching him on tape is when you realize how destructive he is.

He constantly wins at the point of attack with rare power and burst, as he's constantly pushing offensive lineman back into their quarterbacks laps. But not only does he win with power, he also wins with incredible speed and agility for a man his size.

In a loaded defensive line and EDGE class, Simmons has raised some significant buzz as a Top-5 talent overall. Unfortunately, some off the field issues were going to push him a little farther down draft boards.

Simmons Struck A Woman Repeatedly In 2016

While still a senior in high-school, Simmons was involved in a physical altercation with a woman and the act was caught on video. According to Chris Hummer of 247sports.com, "the video shows a fight between two women, Sophia Taylor and Simmons’ sister, Ashley Bradley, in Simmons’ hometown of Macon, Mississippi. Initially, Simmons tries pull Bradley and Taylor apart. As the fight continues, he jumps back into the pile, pulls Taylor away and swings at her multiple times while she lays prone on the ground." Taylor was heard hurling insults towards Bradley and Simmons' instinct was to defend his family. Unfortunately, the act went too far and resulted in the repeated punching of a defenseless woman. Since then, Simmons has undergone counseling and has stayed clean in his time at Mississippi State. However, as we've seen recently with Kareem Hunt and even Ray Rice in 2014, NFL teams don't deal with this sort of violence easily. Because of this, most recent mocks had him falling to the mid-late teens in the first round. Unfortunately, the ACL injury is going to send him tumbling even further down draft boards.

Simmons Could Be Available In The 3rd Round For The Bears

Every year, there are players that will injure themselves in either Bowl games or the pre-draft process and their draft stock takes a hit because of it. For example, Jaylon Smith was a Top-5 lock in the 2016 NFL Draft, but he suffered a gruesome injury in Notre Dame's Bowl Game and he fell to the early 2nd round because of it. He's recovered well after sitting out his entire rookie season and has shown to be essentially back to the player he was pre-injury for the Cowboys. Would Simmons fall far enough to be available when the Bears pick in the 3rd round? Normally, a player of his talent would see a similar fall to Jaylon Smith's, but the off the field concerns could have him off some team's boards. Added to the timing of his injury and the length of his recovery, he might not be available to play this upcoming season.

However, the biggest factor that could push Simmons to the Bears is the depth of this defensive line class. As of his most recent mock draft, Matt Miller of Bleacher Report has 12 Defensive Lineman and EDGE players going in the 1st round alone. This is going to push some talented players down draft boards purely because of surplus at the position. Teams ahead of the Bears may choose to take a slightly less talented DL that they can coach up and who will be available in 2019 versus an injured player who may miss the entire year.

Ryan Pace Has Been Down This Road Before And It Paid Off

Pace has shown no aversions to taking a player who has slid down draft boards due to injury. In 2017, he selected a safety out of Alabama named Eddie Jackson who was recovering from a broken leg injury sustained early on in the season.

Jackson was considered a 1st round talent before his injury, but teams were scared off because of it and chose to go in other directions with their picks. The Bears wisely chose Jackson with the 112th overall selection and he's now considered one of the best Free Safeties in the league. Pairing Simmons with Akiem Hicks, Bilal Nichols, Eddie Goldman and Roy Robertson-Harris on that defensive line would be absolutely terrifying for opposing offenses and quarterbacks.

The Bears are going into the offseason with very few needs across the board, so they can afford to take a flier on Simmons, who may miss the majority of the 2019 season. If the medicals check out and Simmons is expected to make a full recovery, this could be the pick that sets the Bears up to make multiple Super Bowl runs.