In trading for Jeffery Simmons, the Bears landed an All-Pro defensive tackle who boasts a violent play style, elite leadership skills and excellent football character.

"You do this type of move when you have a combination of impact player on the grass as well as someone that can enhance your culture," general manager Ryan Poles said Friday. "I don't think it can be either/or when you talk about a move of this size. You need to have both and that's what Jeffery does. We believe he is going to impact us at a high level on the grass but also in the locker room too."

Simmons, 29, was selected by the Titans with the 19th pick in the first round of the 2019 draft out of Mississippi State, where he played on the same line as Bears defensive end Montez Sweat.

Simmons appeared in 106 games with 104 starts over eight seasons with Tennessee, recording 414 tackles, 72 tackles-for-loss, 46.5 sacks, 96 quarterback hits, nine forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and 31 pass breakups.

He is a three-time All-Pro selection and four-time Pro Bowler who established career highs last season with 11.0 sacks, 21 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles while also recording his first safety. This season, Simmons has recorded 4.0 sacks while starting the Titans' first seven games.

"We're obviously excited to add Jeffery Simmons to our team," Poles said. "We really believe this is going to help us take the next step as an organization.

"His intensity that he brings to the football field, he has a certain standard of how you play this game. You've heard that from me, from [coach] Ben [Johnson] throughout the years, and he lives that, he models that behavior. When you don't live that, he's a guy that makes it a little bit uncomfortable for you, too, which is important. I don't know if we [had] that [before], and we do with him.

"When your phone blows up, and you have coaches and players, people that have been with him that talk about what he means to a football team and to the culture, you know exactly what he's going to do, and we felt that a little bit in a joint practice as well."

The joint practice that Poles referenced took place Aug. 27 in Nashville, two days before a preseason game between the Bears and Titans.

"Any time you have the opportunity to get your eyes on different players … even pregame, we're not watching all the time our team," Poles said. "We're watching their team just to see, 'What do the upcoming free agents look like? What do some of the top players look like? How do they move? Can you see the respect that the team has for that player?' So, we're always evaluating. When you see guys like Jeffery, though, it just stands out. You're like, 'That's just a different human being.'"

A key factor in the Bears trading for Simmons is that he's under contract through 2030.

"I am proud of our thorough forecasting," Poles said. "We really look at, 'What [does] '27, '28, '29, '30 look like and how does this move impact us moving forward,' because we always go back to, 'Can we sustain success? Can we sustain being a championship-caliber team or does this take us out of it?'

"We work that process often, and then when you come to a big decision like this, you want to make sure that you're not hurting the organization long term just to have short-term gain. And that's where Jeffery Simmons' contract comes into play, where you have four additional years after this, so you really feel like you can continue to build your football team while helping in the short term."

Poles credited his relationship with Titans counterpart Mike Borgonzi for enabling the trade to come to fruition. The two worked together in the Chiefs personnel department from 2009-21.

"When you do a deal like this, it takes a lot of trust and collaboration, and Mike is a guy that I have known for a long time — probably in this business someone I have worked with longer than anybody," Poles said. "I know this was not easy for [the Titans]. I think back to some of the decisions I have had to make over the years, and the hardest ones are the ones that you do where you're doing right by the organization usually involve delayed gratification, but yet it feels so wrong in the moment. So, I've just got a ton of respect for Mike and his leadership with that organization."

Poles also feels that the Bears were able to complete such a huge trade due to alignment within the organization that involves chairman George H. McCaskey, President & CEO Kevin Warren and Johnson.

"We're really fortunate here," Poles said. "We have great alignment. I've got a lot of trust that comes from George and Kevin when you make a move like this, and then the collaboration and the trust between the head coach and myself.

"Jeffery is a guy that we've talked about over the last two years, just admiring his game and almost dreaming of, 'If we could ever get this guy on our team, what it would do for us on the field and off the field as well?' When you have that alignment, and I think that's probably more rare than we think across the league, I just really appreciate what we have in this building."