Jeffery Simmons Kicked Out of Titans Practice After Throwing Punch, HC Robert Saleh Says

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was kicked out of the team's practice on Tuesday after throwing a punch, though he spent the remainder of the time working off to the side with a strength coach.

"Our policy is if you throw a punch you're ejected in the game, same thing with practice," head coach Robert Saleh told reporters. "If you throw punch, you're out of practice. But rather than going to the locker room, he went to the other field. He still got his work in. So the projected reps and the work that he would have gotten, he got in off to the side."

Simmons and center Austin Schlottman got tangled after a play during Tuesday's practice, leading to other offensive lineman joining the scrum. In the ensuing fracas Simmons threw a punch at tackle JC Latham before assistant defensive line coach Tanzel Smart pulled him away from the situation.

"We're always going to toe a line of being aggressive and call it instigating if you want," Saleh told reporters. "It's just the nature of who we're going to be. But we've got to be disciplined enough to make sure that we always find our way back to the huddle without giving the other team freebies."

Practice scuffles are nothing new to Simmons. Last August, quarterback Cam Ward and Simmons traded shoves during training camp before the offensive line came to Ward's aid. Simmons had apparently been talking trash to the entire offense during last year's training camp.

The 29-year-old defensive tackle generally backs up the talk with his play on the field. The four-time Pro Bowler and one-time first-team All-Pro registered career highs in sacks (11), tackles for loss (17), quarterback hits (21) and forced fumbles (three) last season, earning a three-year, $105.8 million extension in the process.

"Simmons is a pillar for our franchise and embodies what it means to be a Titan. He's the premier defensive tackle in the National Football League and you win with players like Jeffery," Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi said in a statement in June following the announcement of the extension. "Not only is his leadership on the field what we want our program to represent, but off the field, he sets the standard for our community."