Cards trade Simmons to Giants for 7th-round pick

Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff WriterAug 24, 2023, 10:58 AM ET
Close

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals have moved on from 2020 first-round pick Isaiah Simmons with about two weeks left until Week 1.

Arizona traded Simmons, now a safety, to the New York Giants for a 2024 seventh-round pick, the Cardinals announced.

The move comes less than a week after Simmons played 25 snaps for Arizona in his second preseason game at his new position. He made a switch to defensive back this offseason after playing throughout the Cardinals’ defense in his first three seasons under former coach Kliff Kingsbury and former defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

Gods plan🙏🏾 let’s get to work!! https://t.co/KQEkh2rE43

— Isaiah Simmons (@isaiahsimmons25) August 24, 2023

Arizona, under new general manager Monti Ossenfort, declined to pick up Simmons’ fifth-year option earlier this year.

Simmons, who was drafted eighth overall in 2020 out of Clemson, entered the league as a positionless player of sorts. He lined up at four positions throughout his first three seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information, including more than 1,300 snaps at inside and outside linebacker.

During one of his early conversations with new Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon, Simmons said he didn’t want to play linebacker anymore, and he declared in June that he was going to be working exclusively with the defensive backs going forward. Throughout offseason practices, his role in the secondary evolved, from lining up as a slot corner to primarily playing free safety.

“I don’t think it was an issue of what Isaiah did, he did everything that we asked him to do,” Gannon told the Cardinals’ website. “Moving forward we feel this is the best way we want to play football against other people. We’re going to try and put the best guys out there that can function and do the best job.”

Earlier in training camp, Simmons, who was recruited to Clemson as a safety, said he was primarily learning his new position during camp. He said he was comfortable at safety and enjoying the new position.

Simmons struggled in Saturday’s preseason loss to the Chiefs, falling a couple of steps behind Chiefs receiver Justin Watson on a touchdown pass and then not closing on Kansas City quarterback Shane Buechele during a 15-yard touchdown run.

The Giants play at Arizona in Week 2.

The Cardinals are also sending OT Josh Jones, who had 11 starts last year, and a seventh-round pick in the 2024 draft to the Texans for a fifth-round pick that year.

The deal is pending a physical.

Jones, 26, was drafted in the third round out of the University of Houston in 2020 and has been primarily a backup. He started 12 games in 2021 and nine in 2022.

In 2021, he started the first eight games, when Arizona began the season 7-1, and three of the last four. In 2022, he didn’t start a game until Week 8 but finished the season starting the last eight.

Jones was in line to compete for the starting right tackle job this season but then Arizona drafted offensive lineman Paris Johnson with the sixth overall pick. As Johnson continued to emerge as a bona fide starter, Jones’ chances of cracking the starting lineup this season continued to shrink.