'No old school T.O.': Giants' Isaiah Simmons is focused, not angry in return to Arizona

EAST RUTHERFORD - Isaiah Simmons has not been back inside the stadium he called home for four years since a preseason game to forget last month.

The Arizona Cardinals, his former team, were practicing in Minnesota the next week when Simmons was traded to the New York Giants, and it has been a crash course for the one-time eighth overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Simmons has had three weeks, a handful of practices, one preseason game the day after he officially became a Giant and now one disaster of a regular-season opener for Big Blue, and admittedly, he's still trying to find his way.

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There's no question Simmons fits with the Giants, within defensive coordinator Wink Martindale's flexible, "positionless" defense that aims to get the most out of its players by using their versatility. So perhaps the timing is fitting with the Giants heading to Arizona that Simmons anticipates even more of an increased role than he has had to this point on a team desperate to put their stunning 40-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys behind them.

Don't expect Simmons to go on a rampage intent on showing the Cardinals the player they no longer have, at least not in anger or frustration in the aftermath of his departure. Instead, the 25-year-old former Clemson star insists he is focused on validating the Giants' decision to bring him here.

"No old school T.O.," Simmons said with a laugh, responding to a question as to whether he planned on stomping on the Cardinals' logo inside State Farm Stadium, the way Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens once did to the Cowboys' star, a move that resulted in a near-brawl 23 years ago at the old Texas Stadium.

“I’m not an emotionless person, but I’m not going to do anything crazy out there,” Simmons added. “The main goal is to win the game and beat whoever is across from us, and this week just happens to be Arizona. I’m not letting any external factors get in the way of what my responsibilities are gonna be on Sunday."

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In his return to Arizona, Simmons promises his focus will be on helping the Giants win a football game they desperately need. His arrival has been a bit of a whirlwind for the 6-foot-4, 238-pounder.

His value as an explosive playmaker will translate into defensive coordinator Wink Martindale using him all over the field, and that much has been anticipated since the trade.

Simmons hopped a flight from Minnesota − where the Cardinals had joint practices with the Vikings − and arrived in New Jersey on Friday. One day later, he was on the field inside MetLife Stadium, and he played six total snaps against the Jets: five pass rushes from five different spots across the line of scrimmage and one play on which he dropped into coverage.

Against the Cowboys last Sunday night, Simmons played 15 snaps on defense and another 15 on special teams.

“I know his competitive juices will be flowing a little bit hotter than normal, because that’s just the human nature of the sport,” Martindale said of Simmons. “Just like us with [playing] Baltimore last year, or [Giants coach Brian Daboll] when he goes to Buffalo [next month]. That’s just one of those things that happens [in the NFL]."

Simmons was viewed as a can't-miss-prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft, but he never settled into one position with the Cardinals and failed to live up to the hype overall. He was productive, with 105 tackles in 2021 and 99 tackles last season, but with a new regime under GM Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon, Simmons asked to play extensively at safety and the team obliged. He had some struggles this preseason, though, and to Simmons' surprise, they dealt him to the Giants for a Day 3 pick.

“I’m not treating this game no different or studying harder just because this is the team that drafted me,” Simmons said. “I’m thankful that they gave me my first chance in the NFL, but now I’m a Giant and I’m just focused on the next task at hand each and every week, and this week it just happens to be Arizona. ... It’s not going to help me, it’s not going to help our team because, ‘Oh, I used to be a Cardinal.’ I’ve turned the page.”

Still, Simmons admits that he has not closed the book on his days in Arizona.

There are a lot of people with whom he connected out there, and as with any return, he is looking forward to getting reacquainted - at the appropriate time, of course.

"I loved everybody out there, from the people who worked the door [at the stadium] to the owner of the Cardinals," Simmons said. "I’m a people person. I feel like I talked to everyone, got along with everyone. So, it’ll be nice to see a lot of familiar faces again, be able to say hello. Taking the football part out of it, it’ll be nice to see some people, and I also have some friends that I’ve created on that team, so it’ll be nice to see some of my friends as well.”

He paused before adding: “After the game. Up until the end of the game, I’m all Giants. I won’t be doing any of the friendly stuff until the game is over. When the game is over, that’s when I’ll get to see everybody and catch up.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Isaiah Simmons returns to Arizona on Sunday as a member of NY Giants