Jeffery Simmons just put together the best season of his career, got paid like one of the league’s elite, and still landed at No. 83 on the NFL Top 100.
That number is the kind of ranking that makes you stop and stare.
Simmons, who recently became the highest-paid defensive tackle in league history, came off a monster year with 17 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, three forced fumbles and three pass deflections. That’s not the profile of a player hanging around the back end of a league-wide list. That’s a defender who spends Sundays blowing up plans before they even get off the ground.
The NFL Top 100 is voted on by the players themselves, which makes the placement hit a little harder. This isn’t a media panel handing out takes from a distance. It’s peers deciding where Simmons belongs, and No. 83 feels awfully low for a first-team All-Pro coming off that kind of season.
NFL.com put Simmons in strong company in its own write-up, calling him “Tennessee's most terrifying defender” and pointing out that he finished as PFF's top-ranked interior lineman in the pass rush, posted his first double-digit sack season and finally earned first-team All-Pro honors. The blurb also said Simmons led all defensive tackles with 60 pressures and 26 quick pressures last season.
That’s why the ranking landed like a punch.
Simmons didn’t exactly hide how people around the league were reacting either. One post on X put it bluntly: “83 my ass…there weren’t 82 players better than Jeffery Simmons last year‼️ Somebody bumped their head… https://t.co/F7kngFxann”
Another reaction followed the same line of disbelief: “Let me get this straight. There’s 62 players that made the All-Pro teams.
Jeffery Simmons was First team so 1 of 31 but somehow he was the 83rd best player of 2025. When will the disrespect end?
The frustration is easy to understand. Simmons has been the kind of force that demands extra attention every snap, and he keeps producing anyway. Even if you don’t want to place him in the top 10 or top 20 overall, a slot outside the top 50 still feels conservative.
No. 83 simply does not line up with the production, the honors, or the way NFL.com itself described him.
And there’s another layer here for Tennessee. The Titans have taken their share of punches over the last couple of seasons, but that shouldn’t wash away what Simmons has meant to the defense, especially after the year he just had.
Now Robert Saleh is in town, and NFL.com pointed to what that could mean for Simmons. If the ranking is the slight, Simmons has never needed the outside approval to play his game. He said he likes to play with violence, and he may have even more room to bring that style to life this season.
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