Syndication: The Tennessean
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The Tennessee Titans have locked up one of their top defensive players, agreeing to a four-year contract extension with two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones has confirmed. The deal is worth $94 million, per NFL Media, and Simmons gets $66 million guaranteed, including $24 million due at signing. That makes him the highest-paid defensive lineman in the NFL not named Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams

Simmons was set to be an unrestricted free agent next offseason after finishing up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract that will pay him $10.753 million. Now, Tennessee has ensured that he'll be in-house for the foreseeable future. As the news broke, Simmons took to social media to seemingly confirm the extension, tweeting "We are not done yet." 

The 25-year-old was the No. 19 pick of the Titans during the 2019 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State. Simmons would have likely come off the board higher than where Tennessee ended up taking him had it not been for a torn ACL he suffered while preparing for the draft. Despite that ACL tear, Simmons ended up returning to the team in mid-October of his rookie season and played 12 games for the Titans, including three playoff matchups. 

With that injury behind him, Simmons has turned into one of the more feared interior pass rushers in the NFL. He broke out with a career-high 8.5 sacks in 2021 and followed that up with another impressive 7.5-sack campaign last season. In 15 games for Tennessee in 2022, Simmons matched his career high with 54 tackles, set a career best with seven pass breakups, and had 14 quarterback hits.