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Jason Lawrence Simmons (born March 30, 1976) is an American professional football coach and former safety who is the defensive pass game coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 1998 NFL draft, later playing for the Houston Texans. Simmons' coaching career began in 2011 as a defensive assistant with the Green Bay Packers, later having stints with the Carolina Panthers and Las Vegas Raiders.
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| Washington Commanders | |||||||||||||
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| Position: | Defensive pass game coordinator | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | March 30, 1976 Inglewood, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 204 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Leuzinger (Lawndale, California) | ||||||||||||
| College: | Arizona State | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1998 / round: 5 / pick: 137 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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| As a coach: | |||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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He was a four-year letterman for Arizona State University, earning second-team All-Pacific-10 honors as a senior.
Simmons began his coaching career as a coaching administrator (defense) for the Green Bay Packers in 2011. After one season in that capacity, Simmons was promoted to defensive assistant (secondary), a position he held for 4 years (2012–2015). In Simmons first stint on defense, the Packers tallied 94 interceptions. Serving in a dual role in 2015, Simmons began assisting with special teams and was named assistant special teams coach (2016–2017) where he helped the Packers special teams units excel across the board. During this span, two different punters (T. Masthay, J. Vogel) eclipsed the Green Bay Packers all-time single season net punt average, the punt unit ranked second in the league in opponent punt return average (5.7), and they were second in the league in yards per punt return (10.7) in 2017.
In 2018, Simmons returned to the defensive side of the ball serving as the Packers' secondary coach, helping the team finish 12th in the NFL in pass defense – a significant improvement after Green Bay finished 23rd in the category in 2017. Under Simmons' watch, Alexander led the team with 11 passes defensed and finished second in tackles (64) in just 13 games, earning him a spot on the PFWA's All-Rookie team.
He spent 2019 as Green Bay's defensive backs coach, where he helped the team advance to the NFC Championship game and finish the regular season tied for 3rd in the league in interceptions, 3rd in completion percentage allowed, 4th in pass breakups, 5th in forced fumbles, tied for 5th in fewest passing touchdowns allowed and 6th in defensive passer rating. Cornerback Kevin King totaled five interceptions on the year (t-4th) with 15 passes defensed (t-8th). Cornerback Jaire Alexander added two interceptions and finished tied for fourth in the league in passes defensed with 17. Darnell Savage was named to the PFWA All-Rookie team after starting all 14 games he appeared and recording 61 tackles, a tackle for loss, a team high two forced fumbles, two interceptions, seven passes defensed, a QB hit and two QB pressures.
Simmons joined the Carolina Panthers in 2020. He worked as a defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 before leaving for the Washington Commanders as a defensive pass game coordinator the following year.[1]
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