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Tennessee Titans star Jeffery Simmons ‘can’t wait’ to trash talk Caleb Williams for painted nails

profilephotocropby:Suzanne Halliburton•06/27/24•

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caleb williams jeffery simmons bears titans
USA Today Network

Titans defensive end Jeffery Simmons is a detail-oriented kind of player. It’s late June and he’s already planned his taunts for when Tennessee takes on the Bears the second Sunday in September.

Specifically, Simmons knows what he’s going to say the first time he meets rookie quarterback Caleb Williams on the ground. Maybe Simmons notched the sack. Or maybe a fellow Titans defender made a big play. Doesn’t matter.

Simmons plans to look down and yell at the youngster “painted nails!”

“I can’t wait to say that to him,” Simmons told Rich Eisen during an interview earlier this week.

As far as creativity goes, Simmons’ trash talk is fairly low-key. Williams does like to paint his nails. When the Bears made the former USC star the No. 1 pick of April’s NFL Draft, the quarterback wore silver nail polish to complement his navy suit. Last season with the Trojans, Williams appeared in Dr. Pepper commercials with painted nails.

The quarterback usually decorates his nails with messages for particular games. He learned it from his mother, who worked as a nail tech for years. So maybe Williams will sport special nail art for the Bears season opener against the Titans.

Simmons definitely is looking forward to matching up against Williams.

“Oh, it’s gonna be one of them games,” he told Eisen. “I mean, he probably gets smack-talked by his teammates right now, but especially a game like that. … They’ve got us coming to Chicago. All the hype’s gonna be around them of course. I think when special, even prime-time games … everybody just counts Tennessee out, which we all know.

“A game like Chicago, I’m sure (they’re) thinking we ’bout to get beat bad. That also makes me even talk more smack and boost me up a little more, get into a different mode, as well. I’ll be in a different mode that game.”

titans jeffery simmons bryce young
Titans defensive end Jeffery Simmons wasn’t nice to Bryce Young, last year’s No. 1 pick of the NFL Draft. He sacked the quarterback when Tennessee took on Carolina. (Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Simmons, like Williams, was a first-rounder. The Titans selected the former Mississippi State star with the 19th pick of the first round of the 2019 draft. He made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2022.

He can help the Titans season get off to a nice start if he can successfully put pressure on Williams. That’s why he’s looking forward to the game.

“I get it,” he said. “You’ve got a first-round pick like Caleb Williams, which is a great player. Watching a couple games when he was at USC, he’s a hell of a player. But it’s a different league, and I’m excited to play him the first game.”

The Titans kick off preseason training camp on July 23. Maybe Simmons can use that time to work more on mockery.