Sainthood for a football ghost

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, July 20, 2006  |  Comments( 2 )

New Orleans Saints
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Anthony Simmons has been gone a long time -- an eternity, by pro football standards.

It was November 14, 2004 when Simmons, then playing linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks, badly injured his left wrist against Arizona. Ironically, it happened during what was shaping up as one of his better games of the season, seven unassisted tackles and a forced fumble.

The injury shoved him to the sidelines for the rest of that season. He had surgery, but when the wrist remained tender through the winter, the Seahawks cut him. There were, no doubt, cap considerations, as well as the fact that during 2004, the 6-0, 240-pounder out of Clemson had been involved in several run-ins with linebacker coach John Marshall.

Unlike most major sports, there are no guaranteed contracts in the NFL, and Simmons had become 240 pounds of extra baggage. It didn't help his mood that the Seahawks released him right before he would have received a $500,000 payoff for being on the roster.

After three seasons of over 100 tackles in Seattle, Simmons was still marketable -- albeit bitter -- but he decided to take 2005 off. He spent time with his family, he worked with his foundation -- LIFE (Leaders in Football and Education) back in Spartanburg, SC. Eventually, he got into kickboxing as a way to get back in shape, but he was careful not to make much use of his left hand.

Even after rehabbing the wrist and signing with the New Orleans Saints last spring, Simmons wasn't completely sure he was all the way back. Spring OTA drills answered the question for him.

"I didn't really know if I could lift heavy weights," he told NewOrleansSaints.com, "But from day one I was able to get in the weight room, put 315 pounds on the bar and push it up."

Now, Simmons is part of a radical makeover of the New Orleans linebacking corps, and expected to start at one of the outside positions.

"He's done well," said Saints head coach Sean Payton. ""He's in good shape, and we're giving him a lot."

Ironically, for a guy constructed like a concrete outbuilding, Simmons has been plagued with injuries in recent years -- the wrist, a shoulder that required arthroscopic surgery, a badly sprained ankle, a neck injury.

There was also considerable criticism of his attitude and work ethic in Seattle, despite impressive stats and a 2003 contract extension. A locker room malcontent, they said. Not a good practice player. And given the fact that he's one of the faster linebackers in the league, how come he wasn't getting more sacks?

Perhaps the year that Simmons put between him and football was healing, on all counts. He says he likes his current position coach, Joe Viti. At age 30, he has the opportunity to mentor a younger linebacking corps that also imported Tommy Polley, Jay Foreman and Scott Fujita via free agency.

One of the first things Simmons did after signing with the Saints, he said, was to take a ride around the city and view the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

"Parts of it were like a ghost town," he said.

Perhaps appropriately, because Anthony Simmons is a football ghost. But he is seeming more real to the Saints day by day.

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