Jeffery Simmons isn’t unhappy with Mike Vrabel because he believes Vrabel was a bad head coach. Instead, his frustration comes from watching Vrabel leave the Tennessee Titans and lead the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl appearance in his first season with the team. In Simmons’ own words, he’s “jealous as hell.” After all, the Titans came close to reaching the Super Bowl multiple times under Vrabel but fell short each time.

Since then, Tennessee has struggled to find its footing, going through multiple head coaches. Simmons, however, still admits to being jealous of what Vrabel has accomplished with the Patriots while continuing to respect his former head coach.

“Me and Vrabel have a great relationship and then we still have a great relationship,” Simmons said on The Pivot Podcast after Ryan Clark asked why he was jealous of Vrabel leading the Patriots to a Super Bowl in year 1. “He texts me, I text him, from here and there. But it was one of those things to where, ‘Coach, you were just here four years now.’ I mean my rookie year, we got to the AFC Championship, but it’s one of those things to where, I mean, I’ve been here going on eight years. My last four years, I haven’t been to the playoffs.

“So when you see them, it’s like this mother– went to New England, it took one year and you go to the Super Bowl, like, why they couldn’t be us. And that was my mindset…I’m jealous.”

A former first-round defensive tackle, Simmons spent five seasons under Vrabel’s guidance. During that stretch, the 29-year-old earned two Pro Bowl honors, was part of a team that won two division titles, made three postseason appearances, and one AFC Championship round appearance, that too in his rookie year.

In those first five seasons, Simmons recorded 233 combined tackles, 139 solo tackles, 38 tackles for loss, and 26.5 sacks. So, it won’t be wrong to say that Simmons was pretty optimistic about winning a Super Bowl with the Titans early in his career. However, after the team parted ways with Vrabel following the 2023 season, the Titans have endured back-to-back three-win seasons.

Now, Simmons believes that the Titans had a championship-caliber roster in his rookie season and Vrabel’s second year as the team’s head coach. And the DT wasn’t exaggerating. Tennessee had an elite running game built around Derrick Henry, who led the league with 1,540 rushing yards. Their offensive line turned heads, as PFF ranked them eighth in the NFL following the regular season.

At the same time, they unexpectedly found a high-level quarterback in Ryan Tannehill, who took over from Marcus Mariota. Tannehill finished the season with 2,742 yards, 22 touchdowns, and just 6 interceptions, leading the Titans to the AFC Championship round. However, they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Fast forward to the 2025 season, Mike Vrabel led the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first year before losing to the Seattle Seahawks. The Titans, however, had a disappointing year, as they fired Brian Callahan mid-season. Now, Jeffery Simmons is heading into the eight season of his career with a new head coach in Robert Saleh.