What Micah Parsons Thinks About the Bears' Trade for Jeffery Simmons

When the Chicago Bears traded for three-time All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, the news dominated the NFL headlines. General manager Ryan Poles traded two first-round picks and a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans to acquire the dominant defensive lineman. 

Just two games into his Bears career, Simmons has completely transformed what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen can do schematically with his unit. The Bears are not relying as heavily on blitzes to get after opposing quarterbacks and the entire defense is benefiting from having the 6-foot-4, 305-pound disruptor in the interior of the D-line. 

The Green Bay Packers have a player who has a similar impact for their defense in edge rusher Micah Parsons. He hasn't played a game this season because of a torn ACL injury he sustained in the Week 15 loss to the Denver Broncos last season. The Packers opened up his 21-day practice window, so Green Bay will soon know when the star pass rusher will return. 

On his latest show, "The Edge with Micah Parsons," he and co-host Quincy Avery discussed the Bears' move to acquire Simmons. Avery asked Parsons if he believed the Bears won the trade deadline, which he responded by saying, "That's hard to say."

Parsons then elaborated on that answer. 

"It's just more like the value of the position," Parsons said. "Like, I think Jeffery Simmons is a great player. ... Me and Sauce [Gardner, DB Colts] we got traded on our first deal still. He got traded on his third deal for two firsts. He was more expensive than Myles Garrett, you know what I mean?"

Let's stop there. The Browns traded Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams and in return acquired edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, 2028 second-round pick and 2029 third-round pick. 

The Packers' edge rusher also highlighted that Simmons is 29 and compared him to Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby being the same age and also on his third contract. 

Parsons also went on to say it was a good trade for the Bears.

"Adding another monster like that into the NFC North is unwarranted," Parsons said. "We had this discussion like, is the AFC North as good as the NFC North? I think we can all agree, like, it's not even close."

With every team in the NFC North having six wins, and the Bears on top at 7-2, Parsons is exactly right about the division. The Steelers and Bengals are both 6-2 at the top of the AFC North with the Browns at 5-4 and the Ravens in last place (4-5). 

Parsons and Simmons will have an opportunity to play each other this season on Christmas day at Soldier Field. The Packers defeated the Bears, 31-7, in Week 5, but that was without quarterback Caleb Williams, so the Week 16 game will look far different later this season.