Broncos safety Justin Simmons is living proof that bad football happens to good people.
Free Justin Simmons. He deserves better than this stinkin’ mess in Denver.
If the Broncos do nothing else between now and the NFL trade deadline on Oct. 31, here’s hoping they do right by Simmons and let him join a team that knows how to win.
His tale of football woe has been well-documented: Simmons arrived in 2016 as a third-round draft choice, too late to ride in the victory parade celebrating Super Bowl 50, but just in time to huddle around a dumpster fire nobody knows how to extinguish. Now in his eighth NFL season, Simmons has never been to the playoffs, lost 75 of 120 games and listened to five head coaches sell him a bill of goods.
After being conditioned to disappointment, does a man ever get used to the bitter taste of defeat?
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Simmons said Wednesday.
This might be the worst team in the 64-season history of the Broncos, and know what the real bummer is? It couldn’t happen to a better person than Simmons, who does the orange and blue as proud as any player who has ever worn a Denver uniform.
Unable to stay healthy since the outset of training camp, plagued by groin and hip injuries, Simmons has missed two games, including the 70-20 beatdown in Miami. Although he did pick off Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for his first interception of the season, Simmons hasn’t truly looked like his Pro Bowl self.
“Everyone’s dinged and they go out and play. My personal thing is: If you have that jersey on Sunday and you’re playing, you have no excuses,” Simmons said.
“I don’t want anyone on TV to be like: ‘Oh, man, he’s dealing with this. It’s a good job he’s playing.’ I don’t get graded in my (position) room after a game with anyone saying: ‘Hey, you graded out at an 80, but you were dinged up, so we gave you an 87.’ That doesn’t happen.”
Even if Denver loses to Green Bay and Kansas City before the trade deadline, I don’t expect the Broncos to hold an everything-must-go fire sale, because even if the team wants to tank for the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, it must be done with a little tact.
Yes, Denver has already rid itself of a bad influence named Randy Gregory, as if pushing him out the door would make any of us forget the mistake that was his five-year, $70 million contract. Receiver Jerry Jeudy needs to go, because the team invested a first-round draft pick in him, then never figured out a way to coach up his flaws.
After general manager George Paton and new franchise owner Greg Penner bet the mortgage on quarterback Russell Wilson and coach Sean Payton, the Broncos desperately need to rebuild their future by stockpiling draft choices in return for veteran players.
As a team captain, Simmons stands and shows accountability in the Denver locker room after every loss. As a man, Simmons isn’t afraid to take a stand off the field against gun violence or any cause that rings true in his heart. Fewer than 24 hours after the Broncos lost in Kansas City last week, he was back in Denver, hosting a gala for his foundation that raised approximately $100,000 for local organizations.
“Shame on me,” Simmons said, “if I’m only doing what I want to do in terms of football and I’m not able to give back.”
Trading Simmons isn’t so much about acquiring draft capital as doing the right thing. One month shy of his 30th birthday, Simmons doesn’t have time to waste what’s left of his prime on what now appears to be a lengthy rebuilding project.
Let him chase a championship ring in Philadelphia or Detroit or anywhere a Super Bowl run is more than a pipe dream. Second-round pick for Simmons? Or maybe a third is more realistic? Whatever. Get a deal done.
It would be a miscarriage of football justice for the Broncos to dump the unfulfilled potential of Jeudy or strip the defense of veteran talent by trading linebacker Josey Jewell, then expect Simmons to stand tall, bite his lip and be a good captain, again going down with this sinking ship.
Let a good safety and better man make himself at home in a new NFL city, where his first and last waking breath doesn’t fill him with the acrid taste of a dumpster fire.
Free Justin Simmons.
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