Jason Simmons joins the Panthers as the defensive pass game coordinator/secondary coach after spending the last nine years in a number of roles on the Green Bay Packers staff.
Simmons spent 2019 as Green Bay's defensive backs coach, where he helped the Packers advance to the NFC Championship game and finish the regular season tied for third in the league in interceptions (17). Packers' 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.
In 2018, Simmons served as the Packers' secondary coach, helping the team finish 12th in the NFL in pass defense (234.5 ypg) – a significant improvement after Green Bay finished No. 23 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.
Prior to coaching the secondary, Simmons served as an assistant special teams coach for Green Bay from 2015-17, where he helped the Packers special teams units excel across the board. In that stretch, the Packers 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.
Simmons got his start with the Packers in 2011 as the team's coaching administrator, where he worked hand in hand with the defensive coaching staff to collect and analyze weekly production statistics, as well as assisting the defensive units in practice.
As a player, Simmons was drafted in the fifth round by the Steelers in the 1998 NFL Draft and went on to play in 121 games over a 10-year career from 1998 to 2007. Simmons spent the first four years of his career as a standout special teams player for the Steelers, before signing with the expansion Texans in 2002. In Houston, Simmons expanded his play onto the defensive side of the ball, seeing more action as a spot starter and reserve safety in the Texans' secondary.
Simmons played safety at Arizona State University under current Panthers' defensive coordinator Phil Snow, who was serving in the same role for the Sun Devils at the time. During his senior season in 1997, Simmons was named second-team All-Pacific-10 and named a team captain.
