Tennessee Titans’ defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons is among the best players in the NFL, regardless of position. New Titans coach Robert Saleh intends to keep it that way.
To that end, Saleh recently announced that he would be curtailing Simmons’ snap count this season in an effort to keep his star playing at maximum efficiency deeper into games and into the season. That announcement says something often overlooked about one of the Seattle Seahawks' best players, Leonard Williams.
I am not here to argue that Williams is better than Simmons. By almost any statistical account, the two are virtually identical. Simmons gets a slight nod, but those advantages can be easily explained away by usage and by age.
Leonard Williams, still a juggernaut for the Seattle Seahawks defense
Simmons, at 28, is three years younger than Williams and has played in 67 fewer games in his career. He is in the middle of his prime, as witnessed by the record-setting extension he just signed with Tennessee.
Williams is at an age when most football players begin to decline. You wouldn’t know it by watching him, but time will almost certainly be taking its toll on his body and on his production.
However, if there are plans to rest the Big Cat more in the upcoming season, we certainly haven’t heard about them from Mike Macdonald or Aden Durde. And that says something that is often overlooked when considering just how important Leonard Williams is to the Seattle Seahawks football team.
In the last two seasons, Williams and Simmons have both made the Pro Bowl. Simmons was a First-Team All-Pro in 2025. Williams was second team. It was the first time in his eleven-year career that he had been so honored. Simmons had previously received a couple of AP2 designations.
On the field, there was almost nothing to separate them. Simmons, despite playing 31 games to Williams’ 33, had more tackles and tackles for loss. Williams led in sacks and QB hits.
If this suggests that Williams was a more effective pass rusher while Simmons excelled at stopping the run, be advised that Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grades suggest the exact opposite. Simmons was at the very top of all interior linemen pass rushers, while Williams outscored him against the run.
The bottom line is that the numbers, the grades, and the actual on-field play are very close.
Saleh wants to limit Simmons' snaps because his star has logged more than 800 snaps in four of his seven seasons. That’s a heavy workload for anyone. Though not unheard of for an interior lineman, a lot of coaches like to set up a rotation so their biggest players can save a bit of wear and tear. Other stars like Kansas City’s Chris Jones and the Rams’ Kobie Turner typically top out in the 700s.
Leonard Williams is about to enter his 12th NFL season. Two of them were interrupted by mid-season trades. Still, he has logged more than 800 defensive snaps in eight of his eleven campaigns. He was over 700 in two others.
The only time he failed to play at least 735 snaps was in 2022, when an injury cost him five games. He still was on the field for more than 600 snaps that year. Oh, by the way, if you take into account his career special teams snaps, add one more 800-snap season to his ledger.
Jeffery Simmons plays a lot. He has appeared in 85% of Tennessee’s games since entering the league.
In his 11 years, Leonard Williams has played in 92% of all games for which he was eligible. 166 NFL games in the trenches. That includes 2023, when the in-season trade to Seattle allowed him to play in 18 regular season games.
What makes this so extraordinary is not the toughness he displays. Football players as a unit may be the toughest athletes on earth, and linemen – especially those who play inside – are the pinnacle. Anyone old enough to remember the Rams’ Jack Youngblood playing several playoff games and a Super Bowl with a broken fibula knows how tough they are. And Youngblood played out on the end.
No – Williams' reliability and toughness should be lauded far more than they are, but what makes it truly exceptional is that through all those snaps, Leonard Williams is actually getting better. Part of this may be situational. He clearly has better players around him and elite coaching schemes with the Seahawks. But it all has to come from the player. And during his time in Seattle, it has.
Williams just completed the best two-year span of his long, outstanding career. He played 812 snaps in 2025 and, as mentioned, got his first All-Pro honor.
Should Mike Macdonadl follow Saleh’s lead and put his aging star on a pitch count in 2026? If Rylie Mills performs as expected, that may happen quite naturally. And it would probably help prolong Williams’ productivity.
But the point is, it isn’t necessary. If Mills struggles, or if Seahawks’ other star tackle Byron Murphy II misses games with an injury, Mike Macdonald and Seahawks fans know that Leonard Williams will show up, just as he has throughout his eleven seasons. We all need to recognize that more than we currently do.
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