Jets fans can only laugh as Titans commit to Robert Saleh over Jeffery Simmons

The New York Jets and their fans can only look down on a select handful of teams in the 2026 season, and the Robert Saleh-led Tennessee Titans are one of them. The team's 1-6 start has already led to a mini fire sale just a few months after spending big in free agency. Even team legend Jeffery Simmons wasn't safe.

Simmons was traded to the Chicago Bears for a package that includes two first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, as well as a fourth-rounder in 2027. This is the second vaunted defensive lineman the Titans have traded under Saleh, as they shipped T'Vondre Sweat to the Jets in the early stages of the offseason.

The Titans may try to spin this a certain way, but make no mistake. This team was trying to win games this season. Saleh proved incapable of doing that, and they needed to pivot so sharply that it cost them a franchise legend who will likely have his number retired one day. The haul of picks doesn't change that.

Former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh's ineptitude cost Titans Jeffery Simmons

The Titans spent a huge amount of money in the offseason, reinforcing the secondary with names like Alontae Taylor and Cor'Dale Flott while paying ex-Jets linemen John Franklin-Myers and Solomon Thomas to replace Sweat on the interior. After years of trade rumors, Saleh sought to retain Simmons.

At 1-6, with the team showing the same passing game struggles and questionable effort that became a hallmark of the Saleh era in New York, Mike Borgonzi decided to pull the plug on this season and continue dipping into rebuild mode. Simmons, meanwhile, is exactly the type of disruptive interior pass rusher the Bears defense needed to compete.

Getting two first-round picks is quite impressive, but not as impressive as the Jets' Sauce Gardner haul, which also included a possible No. 2 wide receiver in Adonai Mitchell, in addition to the picks. Trading Simmons was Borgonzi's way of admitting this free agency cycle didn't work and showing that he will try again next year.

Former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh is struggling

This move would not be made by a coach and general manager who were not guaranteed at least one more year in charge. The Titans, like the Jets, are seemingly hoping that they can turn things around with the parade of picks they acquired for their biggest asset, Simmons.

While this trade has brought back a ton of picks, Tennessee still has no assurance that Cam Ward is or is not a franchise quarterback, is destined for another season at the bottom of the standings, and is committed to reenacting the same Saleh shortcomings that would doom his time in New York.

While Borgonzi deserves credit for getting two first-round picks out of the Bears in this Simmons deal, this will be a blow to Titans fans optimistic about the short-term impact Saleh could provide. Even the Jets can take assurance in their future being slightly less murky.

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