Kliff Kingsbury Confident More Than Ever in Isaiah Simmons
In this story:
With the departures of Chandler Jones and Jordan Hicks during the offseason, the Arizona Cardinals will be asking third-year linebacker Isaiah Simmons to accept a leadership role on defense.
Simmons will be taking over play-calling duties, starting with a tough Week 1 matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Arizona this Sunday.
"I like it, I get the play first, so I can't forget it and I don't have to worry about not hearing the call from anyone," Simmons told reporters last week.
"I feel like maybe in the past, we've had some times where guys weren't getting the call. But me being involved with the secondary, I realize the stress of getting the call to everybody, especially the far-side corner. So I feel like ever since I've started calling it, we've been able to get the call out and get lined up."
This will be the first time Simmons wears a green dot on his helmet as the defensive play-caller in a professional NFL game.
Despite Simmons' inexperience, head coach Kliff Kingsbury is happy to see defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and the third-year Cardinal work collaboratively during the summer.
"Really having Vance [Joseph] be able to talk him through some things I think locks him in snap-to-snap, which has been helpful and just him having a better knowledge of our defensive terminologies, what we're trying to get to, it's really been a win-win for us so far. I think he has a better feel for what we're trying to do and then Vance will talk him through some things pre-snap I think will really help him as well," Kingsbury told media members Monday.
Safety Jalen Thompson said at the start of training camp that several players were trying out for play-calling duties, but the original plan was for him to man the speaker in his helmet.
Instead, Simmons will take the responsibility as he'll mainly play linebacker as well as line up in other spots this season.
Kingsbury has seen the results pay off so far with Simmons practicing closer to the ball more often than not.
"I'd say more positional change when he'd never played that close to the ball before he came here," Kingsbury said.
"He's always kind of that backend safety that would roll down and they'd play him all over. But to be in the box as a linebacker in this league there's a lot going on and so just the more reps he's gotten, the game's slowed down for him and [so has] the understanding of our defense"
It'll be a change for Simmons in 2022. Last season, according to Pro Football Focus, Simmons lined up for 587 snaps in the box as a linebacker, 233 snaps as a defensive lineman, 161 snaps in the slot, 22 snaps at corner and two snaps at free safety.
The Clemson product started all 17 games in 2021, totaling 102 combined tackles, including four tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, 1.5 sacks, an interception.
Arizona will hope for even more eye-popping numbers from Simmons this season alongside second-year inside linebacker Zaven Collins.
Thank you for making All Cardinals your number one choice for Arizona Cardinals news, updates, analysis and more. Be sure to give us a like on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Cards content.
Top Arizona Cardinals Stories
GMFB Analyst Picks Cardinals to Win NFC West
Jalen Thompson Hungry, Ready After Contract Extension
Darrell Williams Prepared to Face Former Team
Trayvon Mullen Excited for New Challenge
