Simmons grew to become a Bronco precisely a decade in the past, as Denver chosen the Boston School with the ultimate choose of the third spherical on April 29, 2016. He arrived to hitch the defending Tremendous Bowl champions and a personality-filled locker room, studying from the star-studded “No Fly Zone” secondary. He confirmed his play-making potential 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 security, Simmons recorded the primary of 30 profession interceptions with the Broncos.
“If I may return in time and discuss to the younger, 2016, third-round draft choose in Justin Simmons, I might inform him, as confidently as I may, look him within the eye and say, ‘You bought this,'” Simmons mentioned. “Simply type of put my hand on his shoulder, look him within the eye and simply say, ‘You have acquired this.’ I believe these are the phrases that might’ve put me comfortable and let me know that something that I’ll undergo or see what is going on to occur, I used to be constructed for and I might be constructed for. I believe once you’re coming into one thing new, and as intimidating because it was going into the Tremendous Bowl 50 champs and ‘No Fly Zone’ room, simply listening to the phrases ‘You have acquired this’ and ‘You are constructed for this’ would’ve put me comfortable and gave me the utmost confidence.”
Regardless of 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 in the end report a number of interceptions in every of his 9 NFL seasons, and he completed with the seventh-most picks in crew historical past. From 2018 to 2023, Simmons recorded no less than 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 accessible 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.
Starting in 2019, Simmons started to obtain nationwide recognition for his play. He was named a second-team All-Professional following that season and made his first Professional Bowl a 12 months later. He earned three extra second-team All-Professional nods from 2021-23 and added one other Professional Bowl choice, figuring out himself as a shiny spot on a crew that confronted its share of adverse seasons.
Simmons was named the crew’s first Demaryius Thomas Crew 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.
Because the three-time captain displays on his profession, although, he acknowledges the dearth of crew success. Simmons mentioned he needs he may have led the franchise again to the postseason, and he hopes Broncos Nation understands what he gave to attempt to make that occur.
“I might simply like to be remembered as not only a Bronco, however only a man that gave his all to the crew, town,” Simmons mentioned. “Even in my letter to Broncos Nation once I acquired let go was, ‘I do not reside with regrets.’ I all the time inform everybody I stroll with a way of goal and understanding of every part occurs for a cause. And the one factor that I want I may hit on was simply getting again to the postseason.
“There have been a variety of optimistic issues that occurred individually, however I actually maintain and carry a variety of that weight as a crew chief, as a captain, of not with the ability to promise that stuff, although. So, I simply need to be remembered as somebody who gave his all and tried his finest.”
Simmons embodied that cost, notably away from the sector. The second participant in franchise historical past to be nominated thrice for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Yr award, Simmons was additionally the primary participant to ever earn the nod in back-to-back years. Simmons earned the Broncos’ Group Ambassador award on 4 events as he constructed a detailed relationship with the Broncos Boys & Ladies Membership and impacted the neighborhood by way of the Justin Simmons Basis. A 3-time Darrent Williams Good Man Award winner, Simmons introduced that very same method to his conversations with the media.
“Being a Denver Bronco was greater than only a crew,” Simmons mentioned. “It was my coronary heart, my house and my story.”
That story now continues, albeit with Simmons within the stands as an alternative of on the sector. The longtime Broncos security, who spent his closing season in Atlanta in 2024, stays a fan of the crew the place he was drafted, the place he grew up and the place he thrived.
“I will all the time be a Denver Bronco,” Simmons mentioned.
As Simmons appears forward to this fall, he provided a message to the identical followers that he’ll quickly be sitting alongside.
“To the very best followers on this planet and Broncos Nation, thanks a lot for all of your assist for each myself and my household,” Simmons mentioned. “The years of rising collectively in eight years in Denver are a number of the most-cherished reminiscences that I will have. … You guys have actually made all the world of distinction for me as a participant and I am unable to thanks sufficient — you really are the very best followers on this planet.
“And this isn’t a goodbye. I look ahead to becoming a member of you guys within the stands as we cheer on our crew for years and years and years to come back.”