Isaiah Simmons traded from Cardinals to Giants
Aug 24, 2023, 7:45 AM | Updated: 8:44 am
The Arizona Cardinals are officially moving on from safety Isaiah Simmons, agreeing to a trade with the New York Giants that brings back a 2024 seventh-round pick.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter was first to report the deal.
The safety, Arizona’s 2020 first-round pick (eighth overall), was in his final year of his rookie contract following Arizona’s decision not to pick up his fifth-year option this offseason.
Thursday’s departure comes after the safety struggled mightily in a preseason loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, New York is expected to move Simmons back to a linebacker position.
RELATED STORIES
Why did the Cardinals trade Isaiah Simmons?
The trade ends a roller coaster of a tenure for Simmons in the desert. While he could be a game changer at times, Simmons lacked consistency and a place he could really call home defensively.
Toss in a new regime led by general manager Monti Ossenfort looking to reset the foundation of the franchise and the writing was on the wall that a departure in some way, shape or form was likely.
He began his NFL career viewed as an inside linebacker. In Year 2, the vision was to pair him with Zaven Collins, who former general manager Steve Keim prematurely handed the starting reins to.
Then came this past season, where Simmons was given the title of star backer by defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. He spent most his time at slot corner, seeing 409 of his 897 defensive snaps at the position, per Pro Football Focus.
In the star backer role, Simmons certainly stuffed the stat sheet behind 99 tackles, four sacks, two interceptions, seven passes defensed, two forced fumbles and four QB hits. But again, he struggled to find consistency and was even benched for bad practice habits early on in 2022.
This offseason under first-time head coach Jonathan Gannon, Simmons was moved once more across the formation, this time forming a safety trio with Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson.
The experiment clearly did not work out despite Simmons’ comfortability at safety.
With Simmons no longer on the team, the Cardinals safeties room includes Baker, Thompson, Andre Chachere, Sean Chandler, JuJu Hughes and Jovante Moffatt.
