The New England Patriots have hired former NFL quarterback Chris Simms as a coaching assistant. Simms is the son of CBS NFL analyst and Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil Simms.
There has been no word from Foxboro yet about what Simms role may be but he did play for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels while he was the head coach in Denver.
Simms, who played quarterback at Texas, was a third round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2003 NFL Draft (97th overall). He played with Tampa Bay from 2004-07 after not playing a snap in his rookie season of 2003.
In 2006, Simms suffered a life threatening injury on the football field against Carolina. After taking several hard hits he was taken off the field but later returned to play. After leading a scoring drive Simms returned to the bench in distress. He was taken to a local hospital where it was determined he had a ruptured spleen and had internal bleeding. Simms later said he lost 5 pints of blood and in another 45 minutes without treatment he conceded he’d have been dead.
In 2008, he signed with the Tennessee Titans after there were rumors he would come to New England to replace the injured Tom Brady. The Patriots decided not to sign Simms and stayed with Matt Cassel as the quarterback and finished 11-5.
In 2009 he played for McDaniels in Denver and in 2010 he re-signed with Tennessee. He was cut just before Week 1 but returned later in 2010 when Vince Young suffered a season ending injury.
In 8 NFL seasons, Simms played in 22 games and threw 12 TD’s and 18 INT’s.
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photo credit: Dallas Observer
