{"id":143621,"date":"2023-08-10T10:13:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T14:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=143621"},"modified":"2023-08-10T10:13:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T14:13:19","slug":"isaiah-simmons-on-the-verge-of-his-best-season-for-the-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/08\/10\/isaiah-simmons-on-the-verge-of-his-best-season-for-the-cardinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah Simmons On the Verge of His Best Season for The Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/SimmIs00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Simmons<\/a> could be on the verge of his best season for the Arizona Cardinals. With all the talk about how bad Arizona will be in 2023, any news is good news. But finally, this veteran player looking to re-establish a career might be able to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>As training camp rolls on at State Farm Stadium, both the Cardinals and Simmons seem to have found each other at just the right time. Head coach Jonathan Gannon says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcardinals.com\/news\/isaiah-simmons-finds-safety-at-his-new-position\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the safety position begins with &#8220;reliability&#8221;<\/a>. Thus far, Simmons is living up to his end of the bargain.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One position. Defensive back.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AZCardinals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#AZCardinals<\/a> have a plan for Isaiah Simmons as he enters Year 4.<\/p>\n<p>Full <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RedSeaReport?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RedSeaReport<\/a> with myself, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kvandenbosch93?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Kvandenbosch93<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PaulCalvisi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PaulCalvisi<\/a> <br \/>Apple Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VDtfCLa1Bg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/VDtfCLa1Bg<\/a><br \/>Spotify: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jDQQx8N4FL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/jDQQx8N4FL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Jbp7LPY9XY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Jbp7LPY9XY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Craig Grialou (@CraigAZSports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CraigAZSports\/status\/1669098889188630529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Simmons is finally home in his new\/old position. When recruited out of high school, Clemson did so as a safety. In Arizona, he\u2019s been something of a defensive utility player with linebacker as his primary role. It was a role that simply didn\u2019t suit him as well as playing safety does.<\/p>\n<p>With a Cardinals team brimming with more questions than answers, having Simmons, Budda Baker, and Jalen Thompson working deep is sure to keep Arizona in a few games. For a young offense, especially one without veteran Kyler Murray, staying close by whatever means will help.<\/p>\n<h2>Isaiah Simmons Is Back Where He Belongs<\/h2>\n<p>Simmons has maintained a great attitude. He knows he\u2019s played where needed. But when the question was finally asked, he was honest. &#8220;I told them I didn&#8217;t want to play linebacker,\u201d Simmons said recently. &#8220;I felt more comfortable getting back to things I had done in the past.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Simmons played the past three seasons at the linebacker position. However, the Cardinals did use the hybrid-type player elsewhere. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/SimmIs00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PFF<\/a>, a little more than half of his 896 snaps were scattered on defense. He played slot cornerback (409 snaps), wide corner (28 snaps), and free safety (53 snaps). Simmons added another 110 on the defensive line.<\/p>\n<p>At 6-foot-4, 238 pounds, the former Clemson standout had a body built for both safety and linebacker. In his senior season, Simmons&#8217; time was spent in the secondary and at deep safety. He netted 16.5 tackles for a loss and had eight pass breakups and three interceptions. However, it was a different story when he arrived in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>With the Cardinals, he struggled over his first two seasons, with only 3.5 sacks, and nine total pass breakups. Simmons would add five forced fumbles as well as 159 combined tackles. It was becoming increasingly clear that the hybrid approach was not a successful one for Arizona or Simmons.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cMoving forward I\u2019ll be with the defensive backs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Isaiah Simmons officially confirms his position change from LB to DB. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MrksrQDk00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/MrksrQDk00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PHNX_Cardinals\/status\/1668692108369334273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The depth chart at his new position has him listed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/06\/21\/arizona-cardinals-offseason-questions\/\" target=\"_self\">third behind Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson<\/a>. For Simmons, that is not an issue as much as his newfound comfort in an area of the field he\u2019s familiar with.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cThere were times I was playing a position because we were down with injuries,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cIt\u2019s just certain circumstances that played into me playing some positions, as opposed to doing what was best for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Courtesy &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/cardinals-officially-move-2020-first-round-lb-isaiah-simmons-to-safety-160131178.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yahoo Sports<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Baker, Thompson, and now Simmons give Arizona some stability as the Cardinals look to hang in for what could be a rough 2023. Is Simmons on the verge of his best season yet? In a contract year, he\u2019s now playing where he wants on the field, meaning success and failure is in his hands.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Rob Schumacher\/The Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Isaiah Simmons is one of those veterans who could be on the verge of his best season yet for the Cardinals in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4499,"featured_media":143645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,54],"tags":[7801,1798,5575,8029],"class_list":["post-143621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardinals","category-editorials","tag-arizona-cardinals-news","tag-budda-baker","tag-isaiah-simmons","tag-jalen-thompson"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}