Why haven’t the Giants re-signed Isaiah Simmons yet?

Shane Bowen’s defense isn’t Wink Martindale’s defense

The question in the headline of this post — ‘why haven’t the New York Giants re-signed Isaiah Simmons yet?,’ is one that seems to come into the Big Blue View mailbox consistently.

So, here are my thoughts on Simmons and whether or not he has a future with the Giants.

The biggest consideration/reality is that the Giants have a different defensive coordinator. Shane Bowen is a coordinator who wants rush the passer with four. He wants to be strong against the run, and his defenses with the Tennessee Titans were. Former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale was a blitz-happy ’rush the passer with numbers’ guy who wanted to scheme pressure.

There is merit to both approaches, and the purpose here is not to argue which one is better. The purpose is to talk about Simmons.

The Giants acquired the former No. 8 overall pick from the Arizona Cardinals last season for a seventh-round pick. The Cardinals, frankly, had never figured out exactly what to with Simmons. For his part, no matter what Arizona tried to do with him, Simmons seemed to end up showing there were always down sides to whatever role he was put in.

Simmons is an athlete. An incredible one, as shown by his Relative Athletic Score (RAS):

What he has shown not to be is an incredibly instinctive player, or a guy who has one standout skill that forces defensive coordinators to keep him on the field. He is, really, what the Giants used him as last year. A sub-package player whose athleticism is useful in space, mostly in pass coverage or pass rush situations.

When the Giants had an opportunity to acquire Simmons last season, they first went to Martindale to see if he had a desire to have the player and a viable plan for how to use him. He did, so GM Joe Schoen made the move.

Simmons played 377 snaps for the Giants, just 33% of the defensive snaps. Per Pro Football Focus, he played only 84 snaps in run defense. He simply isn’t physical enough to be a quality run defender. He played 91 snaps in coverage, producing just one sack and seven hurries. He played 203 snaps in coverage, where he was at his best. Covering backs and tight ends in short areas of the field, Simmons had a career-best 81.9 passer rating against.

Simmons often came on the field when starting inside linebacker Micah McFadden came off. Simmons played some as an inside linebacker, some on the outside and a bit in the slot for Martindale.

As we have said, Bowen is not Martindale.

What it comes down to is simply whether or not Bowen sees Simmons as a player who fits what he wants. If the belief is that Simmons doesn’t fit what Bowen wants to do, then Simmons won’t be brought back to the Giants.

A deal could still happen, of course, but as of now that appears to be the case.