BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Simmons highlights
Clyde Simmons celebrates after sacking Vinny Testaverde last year.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |
Has 109 career sacks, ranking seventh among active players and 11th all-time.
Has blocked 12 kicks in 12 NFL seasons with Philadelphia (1986-93), Arizona (1994-95) and Jacksonville (1996-97).
Selected for Pro Bowl after 1991 and '92 seasons.
Led NFL with 19 sacks in 1992.
More highlights at nfl.com
|
Even if Clyde Simmons never records a sack for the Bengals, his signing Wednesday could be viewed as the team's most impressive free-agent coup ever.
Clyde Simmons
|
The defensive end received a one-year, $1 million contract and a $500,000 signing bonus, plus $215,000 in incentives. Simmons will help replace John Copeland, whose torn Achilles tendon will sideline him until at least October.
"I think it's wonderful, a tremendous help for us," Bengals cornerback Ashley Ambrose said. "The staff and front office evidently want to build a championship team."
Simmons' arrival partly erases the perception of the Bengals as every NFL player's afterthought. That stigma continued last year when cornerbacks Rod Woodson and Ryan McNeil and linebackers Seth Joyner, Kevin Greene and Wayne Simmons spurned Cincinnati's offers to accept less money elsewhere.
This offseason, Greene canceled a visit to Cincinnati to sign with Carolina and cornerback Jeff Burris bypassed the Bengals to take a comparable offer with Indianapolis.
But Simmons, who spurned offers from St. Louis, Green Bay and Chicago before drawing interest from Seattle, New Orleans and Baltimore as recently as last week, changed Cincinnati's luck. "We've been in these kind of signing derbies with other teams all too often and have come out on the short end," coach Bruce Coslet said. "This time we didn't."
That's because Simmons, who turns 34 on Aug. 4, liked what he sensed when he met Bengals personnel last Tuesday. He said the Bengals remind him of his previous team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who outbid Cincinnati for his services in 1996. That year Jacksonville vaulted from a 4-12 inaugural season to the AFC title game.
"Everything was geared (toward) winning," Simmons said of the Bengals. "They have a lot of enthusiasm, but it's cautious. It's a situation where we have a lot of things to prove but it seems like everybody is excited."
Simmons' agent, Jim Solano, also credited Jim Lippincott, the Bengals' director of pro and college personnel who handled negotiations.
"If it had not been for Jim Lippincott, this deal might not have gotten done," Solano said. "I don't know the guy, but I can tell he knows a lot about football."
Solano, who also represented Joyner, said the Bengals adjusted their proposals this time, unlike last year.
"The thing that was nice was that there was give and take," Lippincott said.
The Bengals have secured quality free agents before, including center Darrick Brilz, Ambrose and quarterback Boomer Esiason. But as an offensive lineman, Brilz goes mostly unnoticed; Ambrose didn't make the Pro Bowl until he joined the Bengals; and Esiason was signed to be a backup.
Simmons (6-foot-5, 287 pounds), a 13th-year veteran, joins his fourth pro team. His 109 career sacks rank 11th all-time. He led Jacksonville in sacks each of the last two seasons, with 7 1/2 in 1996 and 8 1/2 last year. Jacksonville released him March 6 to trim his 1998 salary ($1.75 million) and increase young Tony Brackens' playing time.
Simmons had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee about three months ago but is expected to be fit when training camp opens July 23. Simmons' reputation as a leader enhances his value. "He's known throughout the league for that," said Coslet, aware that his team lacked locker-room leadership last year.
Nobody seemed to care that Simmons has never played in the 3-4 alignment the Bengals use, though Solano said it briefly hampered negotiations.
"Obviously they think I can play, so they wouldn't have brought me in if they didn't think I could," Simmons said.
More stories...
Photo page
