Jason Simmons enters his second season as Carolina's defensive pass game coordinator/secondary coach in 2021.
In 2020, Simmons helped a young Panthers defense improve to 18th in the NFL in points allowed per game after the team finished 31st in the category in 2019. Under Simmons' tutelage, five different veterans in the secondary posted individual statistical career highs. In Week 11 vs. Detroit, the Panthers recorded their seventh shutout in franchise history (20-0), while holding Lions' quarterback Matthew Stafford to a season-low 178 passing yards and 70.0 passer rating. In Week 15, the Panthers defense held Packers MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a season-low 143 passing yards.
Simmons joined the Panthers in 2020 after spending the previous nine years in various roles on the Green Bay Packers staff. During Simmons' tenure (2011-19), Green Bay's defense recorded 146 total interceptions, tied for the fourth most by any team in that span.
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 third in the league in interceptions, third in completion percentage allowed, fourth in pass breakups, fifth in forced fumbles, tied for fifth in passing touchdowns allowed and sixth 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.
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 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.
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.
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 1998-2007. 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 action as a 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.
