Titans DT Jeffery Simmons hints that some of his teammates aren’t playing hard

The Tennessee Titans dropped to 2-4 following their second consecutive loss on Sunday, a 24-16 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens in London, England. Superstar defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons had some not-so-subtle words for some of his teammates during his post-game meeting with the media. The curious comments were captured on camera by Paul Kuharsky.

“We need to figure something out,” Simmons initially said. “We need to figure out [who are] the guys that are going to fight, who are the guys that want to be out there, and [who are] the guys that don’t want to be out there. That’s what it needs to be. We need to reevaluate our team. We need to figure that out. That’s the message. Let’s figure out who wants to play football for the Titans,” Simmons concluded.

Simmons’ comments are seriously concerning. Simmons was wisely coy, but left his words open to interpretation. Perhaps Simmons has noticed a lack of effort from certain teammates.

The Titans benched two starters during Sunday’s lackluster defeat. Starting left tackle Andre Dillard was replaced by Nicholas Petit-Frere. Kristian Fulton was removed in favor of Tre Avery, who played boundary cornerback. Perhaps head coach Mike Vrabel has noticed similar issues to the ones Simmons is alluding to.

The Titans will fly home from London, England at 2-4 and in last place in the AFC South. Vrabel’s squad is entering a much-needed bye Week. They’ll resume play at Nissan Stadium versus the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8. Vrabel and his coaching staff must do some serious soul searching. Perhaps a quarterback change is nearing. An injured Ryan Tannehill was replaced by Malik Willis. Tannehill suffered an ankle injury, was eventually carted to the locker room, and was on crutches post game. The bye helps, but Tannehill appeared to have suffered a multi-week injury.

Perhaps Willis or Will Levis will start in Week 8.