Justin Simmons has won the bet he placed on himself last year.
Nine months after he chose to play the 2020 season on the NFL’s franchise tag — a one-year guaranteed contract — Simmons turned a five-interception, Pro Bowl campaign into a four-year deal Friday, according to a league source. Terms were not immediately available.
Simmons joins defensive end Shelby Harris (three years, $27 million) as in-house players re-signed by new general manager George Paton. Simmons was placed under the franchise tag two weeks ago. On Thursday, Paton said “progress” had been made in contract talks.
A third-round pick in 2016, Simmons became a full-time starter in 2017 and has 373 tackles and 16 interceptions in 74 games. He was a second-team All Pro in ’19. Simmons, 27, is productive (16 career interceptions) and durable (his 3,211 consecutive snaps played is the current longest streak for a defensive player).
It is likely Simmons’ contract is constructed with a small 2021 salary cap number — like left tackle Garett Bolles’ $5 million cap hit — to give Paton flexibility for free agency.
The top deals for safeties are Arizona’s Budda Baker ($14.75 million), Chicago’s Eddie Jackson ($14.6 million), Tennessee’s Kevin Byard ($14.1 million) and Kansas City’s Tyrann Mathieu and Washington’s Landon Collins (both $14 million).
Simmons’ bet last year was declining to sign a long-term contract. The franchise tag paid him $11.441 million, but offered no protection beyond the season. Had his play fallen off or he been injured, his market value might have plummeted.
Instead, Simmons played every defensive snap for the third consecutive year and led the Broncos with five interceptions.
The long-term contract will likely see Simmons’ cap hit approach $20 million per year beginning in 2022, but Paton and Co., obviously felt rewarding a player drafted and developed by the Broncos was worth the cost.
“For Justin, just looking back over three decades (of coaching), I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of good players and he’s another one — he brings stuff that I’ve never had before,” defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said in January. “Just the way he connects people. There are so many little things that go on daily that nobody sees that helps us as a coaching staff.”
This story will be updated.
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