The defensive tackle market got rolling fast, and the Chicago Bears wasted no time making the loudest move of the day.
After the San Francisco 49ers reopened the door by trading for Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner for a 2027 fourth-round pick, the Bears answered with a bigger swing of their own. According to The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero, Chicago is sending two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans for Jeffery Simmons.
The official return is a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick, with the Titans also sending back a 2028 fifth-round pick.
For the 49ers, Buckner’s return brings a familiar face back into the mix. San Francisco traded Buckner to Indianapolis before the 2020 NFL Draft in a deal that brought back a first-round pick, and now the 32-year-old is back in red and gold. He’s in the final season of the two-year, $46 million extension he signed in 2024, and the fit is obvious: the 49ers wanted more depth and more pass-rush juice on the defensive line, and Buckner now joins Osa Odighizuwa as the main interior pieces.
The Bears were in the market too, and their move for Simmons shows just how aggressive they were willing to get. It also continues a trend that’s starting to stand out: another elite defensive tackle on a struggling team has brought back major draft capital, just as Quinnen Williams did when he was dealt from the New York Jets to the Dallas Cowboys last year.
Simmons, 29, has been one of the league’s premier interior defenders for years, and there had been plenty of questions about whether Tennessee would really move him. Through this season, he has posted 24 pressures, 20 tackles and four sacks, along with 20 defensive stops, per PFF.
The trade also changes the picture in the NFC. The Bears entered Thursday with the eighth-best Super Bowl odds, and that number figures to shift after landing Simmons.
And if this deadline was already feeling busy, it may only be getting started. Even after adding Buckner, the 49ers still look like they could use help off the edge, and they may also be in the market for another wide receiver or cornerback because of injuries.
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