In free agency, Isaiah Simmons had one simple question for interested teams. What is your plan for me?
“To me, it seemed like Green Bay had the best plan, was most excited about me and liked me,” Simmons said, via Bill Huber of SI.com.
Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is asking Simmons to do only one thing — play linebacker. Simmons replaced Quay Walker, who was injured, on the first-team defense, along with linebackers Isaiah McDuffie and Edgerrin Cooper, in the offseason practices.
“I think really what I ran into most of my career is everybody wants me to do everything as opposed to letting me get really good at one thing first,” Simmons said. “I fully believe in Haf’s plan. He’s letting me just lock in and learn a small portion first before we even think about expanding to anything else. That’s something I really appreciate because I never really had that opportunity to really just hone in on one position.
“That’s been huge for me. It’s something . . . that hasn’t been presented to me because my versatility, I feel like it’s a little bit of a gift and a curse, where they want you to do everything but, at the end of the day, I’m still a human.”
With McDuffie, Cooper and Walker all returning, it’s unknown how Walker fits into the Packers’ plan at the position. He also has played in the slot, at safety and at edge rusher in his career with the Cardinals and Giants.
No NFL team, though, has been able to tap into Simmons’ success at Clemson when he won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.
He started only five games with the Giants the past two seasons, playing a total of 558 snaps on defense.
“I’m actually very grateful for New York for what they did,” Simmons said. “They lit a fire under me, and I’m ready to go.”
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