Get him acclimated to what Hafley needs him to do, and it will be GO PACK, GO!!! all game long!

Give him the one thing he’s never had in this league: a defined role. It’s hard to know what that will be when all are healthy at this point, since he’s currently subbing at Mike for Walker and he’s not supplanting Cooper if healthy either.

Simmons is an attractive chess piece for Halfey.

The Coach has been very good identifying a players strengths and deploying them in match up football based on the next team on the schedule. Hafley is also very insistent on vision and break to swarm to the ball...and tackle with technique and purpose. Simmons substandard tackling was likely a key reason AZ gave up on him. Hafley, if anyone, should be able to fix him getting stops.

Isaiah did have 3 fairly productive years with the Cardinals, but it seemed clear they could not decide on a primary role...bouncing him from LB to S to hybrid to edge. While he played OK, it was not what AZ had in mind for a high first rounder and they traded him to the Giants. NY had no clue how to use him and he got buried on the depth chart...then cut...and picked up by Gutey.

Could be another FA find.

There’s a reason he’s bounced out of AZ and NYG’s. It seems like he did have a defined role for a couple of years. From my understanding, he was primarily an Off ball linebacker his first two years. Probably, his best two years. He then had a coaching change and was moved around. Time will tell once he starts playing pre-season games under Hafley.

What the Packers sorely lacked last season was a off-ball coverage LB. Opposing RBs, TEs and Slot Receivers often exploited the Packers flats, curls and hook zones. Considering the competion of McDuffie, Hopper, Welch and Jamon-Johnson - Simmons clearly has the best resume for coverage responsibilities and as a secondary run-stopper. I think he offers a definite upgrade for Eric Wilson's 2024 snaps on D (556) and STs (321).

Simmons has always preformed well in practice. It is when the hitting happens for real is when he got lost. Hope he can produce for the team but I wouldn't get excited until they start playing for real. He always a great athlete but has never turned that into being a good football player. He has trouble shedding blocks and hasn't been great in coverage.

That is the key, I reckon. Find the correct way to use his athletic gifts. Too often, football seems to do it the other way - they expect the athlete to fit into the system instead of the other way around. And that's why you see things like Zach Baun have 4 nothing years, then go to another team and explode like he did last season for the Eagles. Hopefully, that sort of thing can be replicated here.

The Hybrid Guy. The Packers have been looking for that guy who can cover like a safety and tackle like a linebacker for a long time. I hope he'll help. McKinney was quoted in an article about how Simmons was going to help us "a lot". You can never have too many guys who can cover and tackle.

In our draft went Offense, Offense, and Offense. Our primary FA acquisition was on offense. But this defense is transformed with some first and second year guys and some FAs: McKinney, Hobbs, Simmons, Bullard, Williams, and of course, Cooper. Add in this year's rookies. We've substantially upgraded the defensive talent since Hafley was hired. I'm going to be very disappointed if teams score 20 on us in the first half, like happened a couple of times last year, because we have the potential to be a real good defense. Real good.

"The Packers have to outline their goals and expectations for Simmons. Tell him what the defense is trying to do in every situation and what his roles and responsibilities should be. "

Do we really think that "keep it simple" or "define the responsibilities" hasn't been a plan of attack for other teams with Simmons at some point? Here's a guy who has all the athletic gifts in the world, but came out of college with scouting reports that said he lacks instincts and doesn't process on the fly...and they've been mostly right. We've seen reclamation and change of scenery projects work--at least for a while, DeVondre Campbell--in the past. We can hope Simmons can be that kind of guy, but the fact that the Packers got him off the street for a song at draft time says that other GMs didn't see him as worth very much.

No padded practices yet. Too early to get excited about a player with a history of being a poor tackler. Also, when Quay Walker returns to being a full participant in practice, Isaiah McDuffie will be the #3 linebacker.

Simmons is that early training camp darling. What if, what if, what if? When the rubber hits the road he'll be a great special teams guy and backup. If not he'll be looking for work elsewhere. That's the most likely out come but what the heck, what if we just simplify things???

Most of us are not rocket scientists and that may be especially important to many professional football players. I remember an acronym from years ago which was "KISS" which stood for KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID. It's a design principle emphasizing that most systems work best when they are kept simple rather than made overly complicated. I think Hafley is committed to implementing the KISS with Simmons by having him concentrate on learning one position and learning it well.