Broncos may regret Justin Simmons decision after seeing his new contract

The Denver Broncos knew they had to do something about safety Justin Simmons and his contract this offseason, and ultimately, the decision was made to move on. Although the move was made with the assumption from the outside looking in that everything was financially motivated, you can't help but wonder if that's really the case after seeing the deal Simmons recently got with the Atlanta Falcons.

Simmons signed a one-year deal with the Falcons worth up to $8 million in total money and $7.5 million in guarantees. That is just over half of the cap savings the Broncos got by cutting Simmons in the first place.

The Broncos saved $14.5 million in salary cap space by cutting Simmons earlier this offseason, and they took on $3.75 million in dead cap. That means that Simmons is getting just about double from the Falcons what the Broncos have left behind in the form of a dead cap charge.

Now, with the Broncos, Simmons was slated to count $18.25 million against the 2024 salary cap, and it simply wouldn't have been feasible for them to keep him at that figure. The issue with bringing Simmons back was the fact that the Broncos would have had to ask him to take a substantial pay reduction, and we have no idea if that actually happened or not. But the Broncos could have simply offered Simmons the same type of deal the Falcons did and it would have potentially only cost them an additional $3.75 million on this year's salary cap.

That may all sound super complicated in terms of crunching the numbers, but if Simmons was willing to sign in Atlanta on this kind of contract, why wouldn't he have been interested in staying in Denver at roughly the same price? The Broncos went out in free agency and signed safety Brandon Jones to a three-year deal worth about $6.67 million per year. Yes, Jones is younger, but he's also not as proven and Simmons has been a mainstay for the Broncos and the Denver community.

It makes you wonder if the Broncos' decision to release Simmons was equal parts financially motivated as well as football motivated, which would really ramp up the intrigue surrounding this whole situation. Do the Broncos view Simmons as a declining player? It's worth at least bringing up, because even with Brandon Jones dealing with a hamstring injury, even with Caden Sterns being released, and even with all the inexperience at the position, the Broncos didn't bring Simmons back when they had the chance.

And he wound up signing with the Falcons for what looks like a bargain, a bargain the Broncos could have afforded if they really wanted to.