Isaiah Simmons Rumors Come to a Screeching Halt as the Cardinals Send the LB to the Giants
Yesteday afternoon, our own Kyle Joudry authored a piece suggesting that the Minnesota Vikings would get an up-close look at a potential trade target in Cardinals LB Isaiah Simmons.
With Arizona in town for joint practices and the final preseason game of the summer, along with Minnesota’s extreme youth on the defensive side of the ball, it made sense for Simmons to be a trade candidate for Minnesota. Joudry’s argument for the Vikings having interest was this:
“The basic premise of the argument was that Simmons is a young linebacker capable of blitzing a ton and soaking up snaps in the slot. The versatility, youth, rookie contract, and history of being a high selection means he checks a lot of the boxes for a Kwesi Adofo-Mensah trade target.”
However, those rumors came to a screeching halt on Thursday morning as Arizona dealt their defender to the New York Giants for a 2024 seventh-round pick. Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted that the deal had been completed, “Trade: Isaiah Simmons is being traded from the Cardinals to the NY Giants for a seventh-round pick in 2024, per source.”
Simmons will now take his blitzing abilities to the team that knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs just eight months ago. He joins a young linebacker crew which includes eight other players who currently are age-25 or younger in Habakkuk Baldonado, Darrian Beavers, Cam Brown, Tomon Fox, Dyontae Johnson, Micah McFadden, and Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Meanwhile, this trade indicates that the Vikings simply weren’t interested in adding another player to their linebacker room at this point. Minnesota has a plethora of draft capital over the next three years, so they very easily could have made a more enticing offer if they wanted.
Considering New York only owes Simmons $1.1 million this season, he would have very easily fit into Minnesota’s salary cap as well.
Regardless, the Vikings are set to move forward with Jordan Hicks, Brian Asamoah, UDFA star Ivan Pace, and potentially Troy Dye and/or Troy Reeder.
It’s a solid group for Brian Flores’ defense, but one can only imagine what a blitzing Simmons would have looked like in purple this season. Alas, we won’t know in 2023, but he could remain a target in free agency next spring.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.