Isaiah Simmons Traded to Giants from Cardinals for 2024 7th-Round NFL Draft Pick

AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

The New York Giants boosted their defense by acquiring a former first-round pick, and it didn’t cost much at all.

The Arizona Cardinals announced Thursday that they traded Isaiah Simmons to the Giants in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick.

The eighth overall pick by Arizona in the 2020 draft, Simmons has played in all 17 games in each of the last two seasons. He registered 99 total tackles, seven passes defended, five tackles for loss, four sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in 2022.

The 25-year-old is entering the final year of his rookie deal after Arizona declined to pick up his fifth-year option. He’s set to make $6.57 million this season, per Spotrac.

Coming out of Clemson, Simmons was highly regarded for his ability to line up at multiple positions on the field. While he’s seen time at linebacker and at nickelback in his career, he was moved to deep safety upon his own request during training camp with the Cardinals this summer.

“There were just certain circumstances that led to me playing certain positions last year as opposed to maybe doing what was best for me,” Simmons told the team’s official website. “Now doing what’s best for me is actually best for the team, so I think now why it looks like I feel a little more free, more like myself in my game.”

The Giants have a talented safety tandem in Xavier McKinney and Jason Pinnock, though they lack depth at linebacker. It will be interesting to see how they deploy Simmons, but his addition should help shore up a defense that ranked 25th in the league last season by allowing 358.2 yards per game.