The Falcons teamed two of this era’s best safeties last season, signing Justin Simmons to join Jessie Bates. Simmons stayed in free agency for months awaiting the right deal, but the former Broncos All-Pro is headed back to the market soon.
Having agreed to a one-year contract worth $7.5MM, Simmons did better than most of the safeties who became cap casualties last year. The longtime Bronco’s hopes of snapping his playoff drought did not come to fruition, however, with the Falcons missing out. Still, the 31-year-old defender is interested in sticking around under a new defensive staff.
Raheem Morris remains, of course, but the second-year Falcons HC fired DC Jimmy Lake after one season and replaced him with Jets interim leader Jeff Ulbrich. Despite the changes, Simmons wants to stay in Atlanta, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter.
As Bates continued to justify the four-year, $64MM deal he signed in 2023, Simmons joined him as a starter. The nine-year veteran logged 16 starts for Atlanta. Pro Football Focus did not view the four-time All-Pro’s work favorably under Morris and Lake, slotting him 68th among safety regulars last season. Simmons still intercepted two passes to run his career count to 32. Since Simmons’ 2016 rookie year, that total leads the NFL.
Needing to create cap space while facing the record-smashing Russell Wilson dead money bill, the Broncos released Simmons last March. They brought in ex-Dolphin Brandon Jones, who played well on a three-year, $20MM deal. This lower-cost formula, with the aid of Patrick Surtain‘s Defensive Player of the Year season, helped produce a playoff berth. Simmons could certainly pursue a team in better position compared to the Falcons on the market, but his days of commanding big-ticket deals are over. The Broncos moved the twice-franchise-tagged safety’s four-year, $61MM contract off their books, and the ballhawk’s 2024 Falcons season probably did not vault him close to that contractual stratosphere.
With a substantial Kirk Cousins dead money hit imminent, the Falcons are not in good cap shape. They are projected to be more than $4MM over the 2025 salary ceiling, even after the Wednesday news of its roughly $280MM landing spot. A cost-conscious free agency appears likely in Atlanta, so it will be interesting to see if Simmons is linked to another team soon. The Falcons, who also have late-summer acquisition Matt Judon due for free agency, have until March 10 to negotiate exclusively with their 2024 safety addition.
Why?
Why not?