All-Pro safety Justin Simmons announces retirement from NFL, reflects on Broncos’ tenure
Simmons grew to become a Bronco precisely a decade in the past, as Denver chosen the Boston College with the ultimate choose of the third spherical on April 29, 2016. He arrived to affix the defending Super Bowl champions and a personality-filled locker room, studying from the star-studded “No Fly Zone” secondary. He confirmed his play-making means early, leaping throughout the road of scrimmage in New Orleans to dam an additional level that Will Parks ran again for a game-winning rating. On Christmas Day, in his first true begin at safety, Simmons recorded the primary of 30 profession interceptions with the Broncos.
“If I could go back in time and talk to the young, 2016, third-round draft pick in Justin Simmons, I would tell him, as confidently as I could, look him in the eye and say, ‘You got this,'” Simmons stated. “Just kind of put my hand on his shoulder, look at him in the eye and just say, ‘You’ve got this.’ I think those are the words that would’ve put me at ease and let me know that anything that I’m going to go through or see what’s going to happen, I was built for and I will be built for. I think when you’re coming into something new, and as intimidating as it was going into the Super Bowl 50 champs and ‘No Fly Zone’ room, just hearing the words ‘You’ve got this’ and ‘You’re built for this’ would’ve put me at ease and gave me the utmost confidence.”
Despite becoming a member of a gifted group, Simmons rapidly proved he belonged. He grew to become a full-time starter starting in his second season, and he continued to tally interceptions. Simmons would finally file a number of interceptions in every of his 9 NFL seasons, and he completed with the seventh-most picks in group historical past. From 2018 to 2023, Simmons recorded a minimum of three interceptions in every of these six seasons, making him the one NFL participant to perform the feat in that span.
Simmons was additionally as out there as he was gifted. From 2018-21, Simmons didn’t miss a sport and performed greater than 3,200 consecutive snaps from the beginning of 2018 till the early a part of the 2021 season.
Beginning in 2019, Simmons started to obtain nationwide recognition for his play. He was named a second-team All-Pro following that season and made his first Pro Bowl a 12 months later. He earned three extra second-team All-Pro nods from 2021-23 and added one other Pro Bowl choice, figuring out himself as a shiny spot on a group that confronted its share of inauspicious seasons.
Simmons was named the group’s first Demaryius Thomas Team MVP in 2021 and tied for the NFL lead in interceptions in 2022. He recorded game-winning interceptions in opposition to the Raiders (2018), Dolphins (2020) and Commanders (2021) — and his interception and ensuing celebration in opposition to the Lions in 2021 capped an emotional win simply two days after Thomas handed away.
As the three-time captain reflects on his profession, although, he acknowledges the dearth of group success. Simmons stated he needs he might have led the franchise again to the postseason, and he hopes Broncos Country understands what he gave to attempt to make that occur.
“I would just love to be remembered as not just a Bronco, but just a man who gave his all to the team, the city,” Simmons stated. “Even in my letter to Broncos Country when I got let go was, ‘I don’t live with regrets.’ I always tell everyone I walk with a sense of purpose and understanding of everything happens for a reason. And the one thing that I wish I could hit on was just getting back to the postseason.
“There have been numerous optimistic issues that occurred individually, however I actually maintain and carry numerous that weight as a group chief, as a captain, of not having the ability to promise that stuff, although. So, I simply wish to be remembered as somebody who gave his all and tried his finest.”
Simmons embodied that charge, particularly away from the field. The second player in franchise history to be nominated three times for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, Simmons was also the first player to ever earn the nod in back-to-back years. Simmons earned the Broncos’ Community Ambassador award on four occasions as he built a close relationship with the Broncos Boys & Girls Club and impacted the community through the Justin Simmons Foundation. A three-time Darrent Williams Good Guy Award winner, Simmons brought that same approach to his conversations with the media.
“Being a Denver Bronco was greater than only a group,” Simmons said. “It was my coronary heart, my dwelling and my story.”
That story now continues, albeit with Simmons in the stands instead of on the field. The longtime Broncos safety, who spent his final season in Atlanta in 2024, remains a fan of the team where he was drafted, where he grew up and where he thrived.
“I’ll all the time be a Denver Bronco,” Simmons said.
As Simmons looks ahead to this fall, I have offered a message to the same fans that he’ll soon be sitting alongside.
“To one of the best followers on the planet and Broncos Country, thanks a lot for all of your assist for each myself and my household,” Simmons said. “The years of rising collectively in eight years in Denver are a few of the most-cherished reminiscences that I’ll have. … You guys have actually made all the world of distinction for me as a participant and I can not thanks sufficient — you really are one of the best followers on the planet.
“And this is not a goodbye. I look forward to joining you guys in the stands as we cheer on our team for years and years and years to come.”
