Christopher David Simms (born August 29, 1980) is an American sports analyst and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 2003 NFL draft after playing college football for the Texas Longhorns.
Simms also played for the Denver Broncos and the Tennessee Titans. He is the son of former New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil Simms and the older brother of quarterback Matt Simms.
Simms grew up in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey and attended Ramapo High School, where he was a standout in both football and basketball. In football, he was a two-time All-State honoree, and was named the 1998 USA Today National Offensive Player of the Year. Simms graduated from Ramapo High School in 1999. After committing to the University of Tennessee during his senior year, Simms decommitted and enrolled at the University of Texas instead.
Simms played college football at the University of Texas at Austin from 1999 to 2002.
He spent his freshman year as the backup to Major Applewhite, and saw limited playing time until the end of the season. Going into the Texas A&M game (the so-called Bonfire Game as it followed the tragic death of 12 students during construction of A&M's annual bonfire), Texas was ranked #5, but right before that game, Applewhite got an intestinal virus that kept him up all night and required him to be put on an IV the next day. As a result, Simms got his first career start and had the Longhorns up 16–6 at halftime. After Simms struggled in the 2nd half, and with Texas still ahead, he was replaced by Applewhite in the 4th quarter, but Applewhite was not able to get Texas any points, they fell behind in the last 6 minutes and Applewhite fumbled on their last possession. Simms took over again during the Cotton Bowl, when Applewhite suffered a knee injury in the 4th quarter.
The next season Applewhite was again the starter, but Simms was more of a co-quarterback than a backup. After Applewhite played poorly in a loss to Stanford in the 2nd game, Simms was given his second career start in the following game against Houston. Simms struggled early and Applewhite got the majority of the snaps in what turned out to be a rout resulting in Applewhite regaining the role as starter. Simms would again get a chance to start when Applewhite suffered a season-ending knee injury on the last drive of the Texas Tech game. Simms played well, throwing for 240 yards or more in each game, including a 383-yard game against #21 Texas A&M, the most ever by a Texas QB against the Aggies. Texas went 2–1 with Simms as quarterback, with the only loss against #8 Oregon, a game Texas could have won – despite Simms setting the record for interceptions in a Holiday Bowl game with 4, but for three dropped touchdown passes on the last drive. Mack Brown was impressed enough to name Simms the starter before the start of spring practice, a decision that proved controversial.
The Longhorns were ranked #5 to start the 2001 season and Simms' play through the first four games was good enough to keep them there. But in the Red River Showdown, Texas faced #3 Oklahoma and Simms' four interceptions, including one in the Sooners' end zone and one that was returned for a touchdown, sealed Oklahoma's victory. Nonetheless, Simms recovered to lead Texas to six straight wins with five straight 200-yard passing games, including a dominating win over #14 Colorado and his second straight win over the Aggies, a #3 ranking, and a rematch against #10 Colorado in the Big 12 Championship Game on December 1. Because of an upset loss by Florida to Tennessee earlier in the day, Texas went into the game knowing that a win would likely put them in the 2002 BCS Championship Game. But Simms had a disastrous game. He was responsible for four turnovers (three interceptions and a fumble) in the first half of play. In the 2nd quarter, after being booed by Texas fans, Simms injured his finger and Applewhite entered the game with Texas down, 29–10. Applewhite led Texas back to within 2 points, but eventually Texas would come up short losing 39–37 after an onside kick attempt failed. Applewhite's strong play, combined with Simms' injury, resulted in Simms sitting out the 2001 Holiday Bowl.
Texas came into the 2002 season with high hopes and a #2 ranking. Simms was the starter all season, and he threw for a career-high 3,207 yards, 2nd to only Applewhite at the time. Texas won its first 5 games and then faced their first challenge against #3 Oklahoma. Texas led in that game until the 4th quarter, when a 3rd Simms interception set up Oklahoma's winning touchdown. Simms and Texas recovered to beat #17 Kansas State and #17 Iowa State in back to back weeks followed by wins over Nebraska and Baylor to climb back up to #3 in the rankings. But the following week, Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury threw for 473 yards to upset the Longhorns 42–38, despite Simms playing one of his best games, and scuttle their national championship dreams. Simms capped his year with his 3rd straight victory over Texas A&M and his first bowl win over #25 LSU in the Cotton Bowl. In the Cotton Bowl he threw for 269 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception – with more than half of those yards going to Cotton Bowl MVP Roy Williams. Simms was named the team's MVP for the season.
He finished with a career record of 26–6, second largest number of wins, at the time, to Bobby Layne. He also played in the 2002 Senior Bowl in which he threw an interception that went for a Senior Bowl record 99-yard return.
Simms was selected with the last pick of the third round in 2003 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the expectation that he would eventually be the successor to Brad Johnson. He was cast third on the Bucs depth chart behind Johnson and former Buccaneers starter Shaun King. Simms sat his entire rookie year without playing a single snap in the regular season.
In 2004, Simms started the season as the 3rd string quarterback again, this time behind Johnson and former Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins starter Brian Griese, but quickly advanced to backup quarterback after a poor preseason by Griese. Simms saw his first action on September 19, 2004, against the Seattle Seahawks after a below-average performance by Johnson, coming into the game with 10:32 left in the 2nd quarter. Simms went 21–32 with 175 yards and an interception. Simms received his first start two games later against the New Orleans Saints on October 10, 2004, after the Bucs started 0–4 and Johnson was benched for his poor performance. Simms went 5–8 for 75 yards but injured his shoulder early in the game and missed three weeks, allowing Brian Griese to secure the position with three straight wins. Simms saw occasional action as the backup QB to Griese and started a meaningless final game against the Arizona Cardinals where he threw for 224 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
In 2005, Simms was slated on the depth chart as the backup quarterback, behind Brian Griese and ahead of former Cleveland Browns starting quarterback Luke McCown. Simms got his first snap of the season after Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas was pushed onto Griese's leg with several minutes left in the game on October 16, 2005. Despite the injury, the Buccaneers prevailed 27–13 in the game in which Griese was lost for the season. Simms performed well, completing 6 of 10 passes for 69 yards. Simms got his first start of the season the following week against a weak San Francisco 49ers squad. While Simms had decent numbers (21–34, 264 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions), his performance was considered poor, as there were many times when he underthrew his receivers, missed open receivers, or incorrectly read the defensive coverage. Simms followed up this performance with about the same performance (25–42, 259 yards, 1 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) against the division rival Carolina Panthers, who were considered a much better team than San Francisco. After these two losses however, Simms performed better than expected and had a knack for late-game heroics. He led fourth-quarter charges against fellow division rival Atlanta twice, as well as the Washington Redskins. The Redskins game was his best performance of the year as Simms threw for three scores as the Buccaneers won 36–35 in a remarkable game. Simms had a much more impressive performance in the rematch against the Carolina Panthers on the road. The two losses in this stretch were against the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots, and the Chicago Bears, who were ranked #1 in the league in total defense, and in both of these games, Simms did not throw any interceptions, but was sacked a combined 11 times. He even led Tampa Bay to another fourth-quarter comeback against the Bears but a 29-yard field goal attempt floated wide right, giving the Bears a 13–10 victory.