Justin Simmons announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday, closing an eight-season run in Denver that made him one of the Broncos’ most recognizable players. The longtime safety said he cannot wait to return to the team’s home opener as a fan, not a player.
Simmons spent eight seasons with the Broncos and was a team captain, a Pro Bowl selection and a four-time All-Pro. He was also a three-time Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee, a sign of how fully he had become part of the franchise on and off the field.
“I can't wait to go to the home opener and be a fan,” Simmons said, adding that he does not want to sit in a suite and wants to be as close as possible, maybe in the lower bowl, cheering on the team. He said he wants to tailgate and see “the crazy Instagram people” with fire trucks and other elaborate setups.
The retirement leaves Denver without a player who had become a constant on game days over the better part of a decade. Simmons was selected by the Broncos in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft at team headquarters in Englewood, Colorado, and from there built a career that included community work, individual honors and a steady presence in the secondary.
That history is part of why his departure lands as more than a routine roster note. Simmons said the Broncos took a chance on him and extended him, and he framed the move as a homecoming of sorts rather than a break with the team that drafted him.
“I think what I've done in my career and playing, I will always hold near and dear and at a very high place in my chart of life,” he said. “I'm also stepping into something that is going to be really new and fresh and awesome.”
He made the bond plain in one final line about his future with the franchise. “I'm always going to be a Bronco, and I'm always going to be a Broncos fan,” Simmons said. “They took a chance on me, extended me. This is my home.”
The Broncos will get that version of Simmons back at Empower Field at Mile High in the 2026 regular season, not in uniform but in the stands, watching the club he helped define for eight seasons.
