5 terrible things to happen to the Broncos in the 2024 offseason
2. Releasing All-Pro safety Justin Simmons
Cutting Justin Simmons was one of the worst things the Denver Broncos had to do all offseason. The Broncos saved $14 million in cap space by cutting Simmons, who was entering the final year of his contract anyway. That cap space was obviously necessary as we just got done talking about the team taking on $53 million of the $85 million in dead cap from Russell Wilson's albatross of a contract.
The decision to release Simmons was in direct relation to that, there's no question about it. Otherwise, what motivation would the Broncos have had to move on from Simmons? He's probably going to go into the Broncos' Ring of Fame someday and his 30 interceptions since 2016 are more than anyone else in the NFL during that timeframe.
On top of that, Simmons is a Walter Payton Man of the Year candidate and a tremendous asset in the community. He's a team captain. He's elite at his position. This was one of the toughest pills to swallow of the last handful of years, much less just the 2024 offseason alone.
3. Admitting defeat on Jerry Jeudy
The Denver Broncos refused to trade Jerry Jeudy for seemingly the longest time. Jeudy popped up in a bunch of trade rumors starting in 2022 when the Broncos were obviously one of the worst teams in the league, but they wouldn't let him go.
After what we saw and heard from Sean Payton last year, it felt more like Jeudy was part of Sean Payton's long-term plans than anything else, so the team's decision to move on from him in 2024 for the price of 5th- and 6th-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft was another tough punch to take on the chin.
Jeudy was a 1st-round pick in 2020 by the Broncos and he was considered one of the top steals of that vaunted receiver class. NFL Draft experts had Jeudy going somewhere in the top 10 picks, but never anywhere near the middle of the first round where the Broncos were picking. Landing him with the 15th selection in that draft felt like the football gods were favoring the Broncos.
Jeudy struggled with drops as a rookie, but became arguably the team's best offensive weapon by 2022 after barely surviving playing in Pat Shurmur's offense. The timing just didn't work out for Jeudy to get a long-term deal in Denver and the Broncos were forced to admit defeat after they likely had much better offers over the last two years to trade away their former first-round pick.