Titans' Amy Adams Strunk: Jeffery Simmons Deserves 2nd Chance After 2016 Assault

Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk supported the team's decision to select Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons with the 19th overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft.

Simmons received a one-game suspension in 2016 after he was shown on videotape hitting a woman who had been fighting with his sister.

Strunk said Friday she had seen the video and thought Simmons was worthy of the investment on draft day, per ESPN.com's Turron Davenport:

"We discussed the incident and watched the video together. It begins with trust from Mike (Vrabel, the Titans head coach) and Jon (Robinson, the Titans general manager). I needed to be comfortable because at the end of the day I had the final decisions. It didn't take me long to see that this young man had an incident in high school. We all can look back on our lives in high school and wish we had done things differently."

Strunk added the Titans are "getting a great man."

Simmons was found guilty in 2016 of a charge of malicious mischief and pleaded no contest to simple assault. He had to pay $1,361 in fines and restitution.

The league didn't extend an invitation to him to the NFL Scouting combine as a result of his arrest.

"I'm not perfect," Simmons said Thursday after the Titans took him off the board, per the Tennessean. "I made the mistake. I own up to it. I wasn't raised like that, to strike a woman. I regret it. Just grateful to get opportunity, a brand new start in life at college."

Simmons played three years at Mississippi State. He had 163 total tackles, 32.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks in 38 games.

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller ranked Simmons as the third-best defensive lineman in the 2019 draft class, behind Quinnen Williams and Ed Oliver, and compared him to Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones. Simmons was seventh on Miller's final big board.