The groundwork for the fall’s biggest blockbuster trade was laid 17 years ago, in a multi-family house in Kansas City, with two young scouts, Mike Borgonzi and Ryan Poles, living in the apartment upstairs, and a young coach named Nick Sirianni downstairs.

Borgonzi and Poles first connected two years earlier, when Poles was a starting guard at Boston College, and Borgonzi a recruiting assistant. In 2007, Borgonzi had Poles, a leader for the Eagles, host visits with key recruits during his first year at BC. The following November, Trey Koziol, now a Bears executive, left his graduate assistant position, and Borgonzi helped Poles, who Chicago had cut from camp, land the role.

Then-Patriots personnel chief Scott Pioli got to know the two then, and when Pioli took the Chiefs GM job in 2009, he’d pluck both from the BC staff to work in his personnel department. So they ended up sharing an apartment in Kansas City, with Poles’s girlfriend, Katie, living there, too, and Sirianni next door.

Poles and Borgonzi spent the next 13 seasons climbing the scouting ladder.

In 2022, Poles became Bears GM. In 2025, Borgonzi became the Titans GM.

This week, the strength of the relationship made the NFL’s best interior defensive lineman, three-time All-Pro Jeffery Simmons, a Bear. Without it, Thursday’s trade—Simmons and a 2028 fifth-rounder headed to Chicago for 2027 and ’28 first-rounders and a 2027 fourth-roudner—doesn’t happen.

And that goes back to all the calls the Titans have gotten since Borgonzi got the Tennessee job two years ago in January. They came in his first offseason in charge. They came at the trade deadline last year. They came after Robert Saleh came aboard earlier this year. They came, in droves, over the past few weeks. But Borgonzi never engaged—until Wednesday.

Titans had researched big trades, impact on rebuilds

Because of so many calls, Borgonzi, assistant GM Dave Ziegler and the Titans brass had done their homework on such a big trade, knowing Simmons was really the only piece on their roster who’d bring home that sort of haul.

What they found: Teams were able to accelerate rebuilds through them. Houston landed Will Anderson Jr. (they packaged multiple picks to move up to  No. 3 and draft the All-Pro edge in 2024) and multiple selections in the Deshaun Watson trade. The Lions got Jared Goff and picks that became Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams in the Matthew Stafford trade. The Seahawks got Charles Cross, Boye Mafe, Devon Witherspoon and Derick Hall in the Russell Wilson trade. Even their opponent last week, the Browns, got young talent from the Travis Hunter deal.

Still, Borgonzi was wary of engaging anyone on Simmons, knowing that if he did, word could leak, and the team would pay a heavy price if the talks went nowhere.

So as much interest as Simmons garnered over the last 20 months, Borgonzi had never gotten a single hard offer for Simmons, mostly because teams fishing weren’t forward enough to make one. Instead, they’d ask if the Titans had interest in moving their star, the Titans would say no, and that was that.

Poles’s first call to Borgonzi came Wednesday in the 5 p.m. CT hour, after the Titans wrapped their afternoon practice. Borgonzi didn’t shut Poles down on the idea of Simmons out of hand, mostly because he knew that if they did negotiate, their talks wouldn’t leak—because of the aforementioned relationship.

Borgonzi’s research into the Watson, Stafford, Wilson and Hunter deals, had put a ballpark price in his head for what it might take to actually part with Simmons.

He told Poles he’d need the Browns’ equivalent they got from the Rams in the Myles Garrett trade.

He added that it would have to start with two first-round picks.

The Rams gave up a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, a 2029 third-round pick and star rusher Jared Verse for Garrett. Verse’s inclusion, as Borgonzi saw it, is why the 2028 pick was a second-rounder rather than a first. And the third-rounder Cleveland got was two and a half years off, devaluing it a bit.

Poles called back at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday, emboldened by his friend’s willingness to negotiate, motivated to land his white whale. The two GMs chipped away. The Bears agreed to deal their 2027 and ’28 first-rounders. As Borgonzi saw it, and many GMs would, a 2028 fourth-rounder was worth the 2029 third-rounder Cleveland got. The Bears wanted a kickback. So to move that fourth-rounder to 2027, the Bears agreed to deal the 2028 fifth.

By 8 p.m. CT, Borgonzi and Poles had a soft agreement, and trust came back into play. No one could know. Simmons didn’t yet. Nor did the owners or coaches.

The GMs agreed to reconvene in the morning after they checked in with everyone.

Trade was borderline unprecedented

On Wednesday night, Borgonzi, Ziegler and Saleh met to go over the hypothetical deal.

They took a historical look and determined that this sort of return on an in-season trade was borderline unprecedented. The 2019 Jalen Ramsey trade was right up there. The Khalil Mack and Sauce Gardner deals fell short. And including all trades, as the Titans measured them, over the last 20 years or so, the Bears’ offer ranked eighth, just shy of the return the Chiefs got for Jared Allen in 2008.

With that sort of haul, both in draft capital and cap space, Borgonzi, Ziegler and Saleh figured they could add six to 10 young players over the next couple of years, and supercharge their rebuild over a period when they’d otherwise have Simmons going into his 30s on a roster that was going to take time to rebuild.

So just as Poles was going to Bears owner George McCaskey, Borgonzi went to Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk first thing Thursday morning, with the mind-twisting news still under lock and key. Strunk told her GM she loved Simmons as a player and a person, then said she understood why the Titans had to do it.

With that box checked, Borgonzi went back to Poles to make sure the Bears were good with the terms and then, between 7:30 and 8 a.m. ET, called Simmons’s agent, Todd France, and told him that the information was sensitive but gave him the green light to tell the player.

Minutes later, Borgonzi and Saleh met with Simmons.

The news still wasn’t public. The circle remained tight, and Simmons told Borgonzi and Saleh he was a bit heartbroken and didn’t want to leave. The Titans’ coach and GM then told Simmons this wasn’t the organization turning its back on him, and that he’d always have a home there and would be back to be honored as one of the franchise’s all-time greats.

Minutes later, Saleh walked into his 8:30 a.m. team meeting. He paced for a second.

“Guys, I’m gonna cut to the chase,” he said. “We just traded Jeff.”

The players were stunned, and the shock in the room was palpable. Saleh told them he’d give them 24 hours to process it, and they could come to his office to talk if they wanted. He then conceded that the normal thing for any player in that circumstance would be to say, more or less, What the f---, and think the organization was mailing it in and no longer care about the 2026 team. The abnormal thing would be to acknowledge it was the business, and use the opportunity’s result to compete and improve.

He asked his players to take the abnormal approach. He then opened the conversation to the room, and a prominent player asked, “Why did we do this?”

Hours later, the team had a spirited practice, one of its best of the season.

Impact for Titans and Bears

The result of the trade for the Titans won’t be known for a few years. For now, a team that was already far away may be a little further away, but is loaded with assets with which to attack its rebuild, behind its second-year GM and first-year coach.

On the Bears’ end, it’s pretty simple. They have a star quarterback on a rookie deal. They won 12 games last year. They’re 5–2 in perhaps the best division in football.

They’re striking while the iron’s hot with one of the NFL’s best players at any position.

And there’s a pretty good chance none of it happens if the two GMs weren’t rooming together a floor up from a future Super Bowl-winning head coach 17 years ago.

With that, we’ve got some more trade deadline notes for you …

Indianapolis Colts

Post-DeForest Buckner and Quenton Nelson, the Colts are still taking calls on guys. Both Grover Stewart and Josh Downs are in contract years and could be had. Less likely is Jonathan Taylor getting moved. My understanding is that Indy would need a significant haul to part with the face of its franchise, who signed a three-year extension earlier this year and is perhaps the only real marketable star left on the roster.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles have gotten calls on DT Moro Ojomo, a rising star in a contract year. And that makes sense, given that the team has already paid Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis at his position. Still, the team has told others that Ojomo is not available, and has at least given off the vibe that it’ll try to re-sign him, despite having Carter and Davis already on big deals. That said, other contract-year players like Hollywood Brown, Tariq Woolen and Dallas Goedert could be had. A Saquon Barkley trade seems less likely, especially with Barkley banged up.

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers have shut down trade inquiries for their veterans, even as the team sits at 0–6. So while there are questions about guys like Khalil Mack and Quentin Johnston, for now, GM Joe Hortiz and coach Jim Harbaugh appear unwilling to wave any sort of white flag. We’ll see if this weekend’s game against the Rams changes things.

Washington Commanders

Lots of teams (we’ll get to who in a second) are looking for defensive line help, and the Commanders’ roster is one that those teams have circled as a place to find help. Daron Payne and Dorrance Armstrong are two older guys who could be available, and K’Lavon Chaisson, on a one-year deal, is another potential target, especially if Washington falls further back in the NFC East with another loss on Sunday.

Arizona Cardinals

Edge rusher Josh Sweat’s name has been bandied about for months, and Arizona’s record (2-5) opens the possibility he could be moved.

New England Patriots

The Patriots are deep in the AFC race, but veteran DT Christian Barmore could be had, having played only 41.9% of the team’s defensive snaps, falling behind Milton Williams and Cory Durden in the team’s rotation.

New York Jets

The Jets seem alright with standing pat. They’ve gotten significant interest in fourth-year edge rusher Will McDonald IV but haven’t budged at all. And the idea that they’d part with Garrett Wilson is certainly not coming from inside that organization—they don’t view him as remotely available to other teams. For now, they seem determined to give their coaching staff a chance the rest of the year, and like the mix in their locker room.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins aren’t hanging up on anyone, but they value their veteran leaders and see them as key to giving their hyper-young roster the right environment to grow. Miami has gotten interest in DT Zach Sieler and C Aaron Brewer, but quickly rebuffed that, and sees those two and Jordyn Brooks as important influences on their raft of rookies. Right tackle Austin Jackson is one name that could realistically draw interest, and potentially be on the move.

Tennessee Titans

Are the Titans done, now that Simmons is gone? Maybe. Maybe not. They’ve gotten interest in RB Tony Pollard. But in both cases, he and WR Calvin Ridley, the team sees value in having them around to help their evaluation of second-year QB Cam Ward.

Other buyers

As for the buyers, the Chiefs and Steelers have asked around on receivers. The Giants and Jaguars are sniffing around on defensive tackles—Jacksonville’s looking for pieces for its defensive front in general. The Vikings have asked around on interior offensive and defensive linemen, and running backs. The Bills are looking for another piece or two on defense. And the Browns, suddenly thrust into the “buyer” category, are checking out options for another designated pass-rusher and a blocking tight end.