The Denver Broncos place safety franchise label Justin Simmons for the second consecutive season, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday.
Simmons, who was planning to become an unrestricted free agent, becomes the first player to be marked this off-season. The Broncos now have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal.
“Justin is one of our core men, and our goal since I came here has been to sign him a long-term agreement,” Broncos general manager George Paton said Thursday. “We had good talks with his agent. I do not know if we are going to make a deal or not, but that is our goal. He is the kind of man we want to extend.”
NFL teams have until March 9 at 4pm ET to place the franchise label on their most valuable player.
Simmons, the Broncos’ third round in the 2016 draft, played on the $ 11.4 million franchise player in 2020. He finished with 96 dives and five interceptions. It was his third consecutive 90-tackle season. He was consistently an active player in the running defense with the versatility to cover a variety of players.
The 27-year-old Simmons has the combination of field performance and community involvement as he has played every defense for the past three seasons and has been named the Broncos nominee for the Walter Payton this past season. Man of the Year Award.
When Paton was appointed in January, football industry president John Elway said the attempt to re-sign Simmons was ‘one of the biggest things’ Paton had on his to-do list.
Simmons has consistently been one of the most active players in the community and one of the leading voices of the team in social justice.
He won the Darrent Williams Good Guy Award, which is given to the Broncos player every season by the Denver chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America to recognize professionalism and depth in media interactions. Simmons is the only three-time winner of the award since it began in 2006.
ESPN’s Jeff Legwold contributed to this report.