The Broncos’ secondary is going to look different in 2024.
Denver’s first move in free agency Monday was to agree to a three-year deal with former Miami safety Brandon Jones. Multiple sources confirmed the agreement to The Post. Contracts cannot officially be signed until after 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Jones is getting $12.5 million guaranteed from Denver on a deal worth $20 million (up to $22.5 million), a source said.
Jones was a regular in the Dolphins’ secondary, starting 30 games over the first four years of his career. That included six starts in 2023 among 16 appearances for Miami. He had two interceptions and 48 tackles in Vic Fangio’s defense this fall. Jones has done a little bit of everything in his career so far, including a five-sack season in 2021.
The 2020 third-round draft pick will be counted on to help replace franchise cornerstone Justin Simmons, who was released Thursday after eight years in Denver.
Jones played less (44% of defensive snaps) in 2023 than the previous two years for the Dolphins. In 2021 and 2022, Jones started 20 of the 22 games he appeared in and logged 64% and 76% of defensive snaps, respectively. His 2022 season was cut short by a torn left ACL. He spent much of training camp in 2023 limited and only played sparingly early in the season.
Jones played two snaps defensively over the first two weeks, then 16 during Miami’s 70-20 blowout win over the Broncos in Week 3. After one start the next week, he started just one more time before Week 12. From there, however, he started four straight games and played extensively in five of Miami’s final six regular-season contests and also the Dolphins’ playoff loss to Kansas City.
“I think the season, in a weird way, has worked out very well for Brandon,” Fangio told reporters in late December. “As you guys know, he missed all of the offseason, missed all of training camp. He got to play in the fourth game of the year, got thrust in the action. He wasn’t really ready for it. He and I talked about that. Then he got to play a few weeks later in a game, one of the starters was out. And then has now had this long stretch here – I don’t know, three or four in a row – where he’s had to play full time.
“In a different way, it’s worked out great for him. And he’s playing much, much better now.”
Jones also provided extensive work on special teams, playing 51% of the team’s snaps in the third phase overall in 2023.
The Broncos’ safety plan post-Simmons has come into focus in the past 48 hours.
Denver on Saturday also agreed to terms on a two-year extension with P.J. Locke, who would have become a free agent this week.
Now the team is going to have some serious familiarity in the room, even without Simmons. Locke, Jones and Caden Sterns all played in college at Texas.
Locke went undrafted in 2019. Then Jones was a third-round pick in 2020 and Sterns followed as a fifth-round pick in 2021.
The room will also feature second-year man JL Skinner and also Delarrin Turner-Yell, though he will miss the first chunk of the season at least after a major knee injury in Week 17.
They’ll be working under new secondary coach and defensive passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.
