Quarterback Chris Simms has been with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2003 when the Bucs drafted him out of Texas. Simms has played for the team for three of those five years from 2004-2006. In 2006, the signal caller missed most of the season due to a ruptured spleen, and he sat out the 2007 season on the injured reserve list.
It’s been reported in the Tampa Bay Tribune and St. Petersburg Times that Simms contends that his relationship with Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden “is totally broken.” Simms says that there’s no way to rebuild his relationship with the coach.
The quarterback wants a trade or his outright release. He says that Gruden has treated him shabbily, not taking his injury seriously, playing him in a preseason game last year with close to no practice reps and indicating that Simms’ injury was all in his head.
In three active seasons with Tampa Bay, Simms has played in 19 games, completing 59.1-percent of his throws for 12 touchdowns and a rating of 71.2 He’s also thrown 17 interceptions and been sacked 43 times.
Simms observes that he thinks Gruden simply thought he was faking his injury. The quarterback says that the coach has done too many things to him that he cannot forgive. The Bucs have not yet commented on the situation.
