The Denver Broncos have placed a one-year franchise tag on safety Justin Simmons, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The league has not yet announced franchise tag values for 2020 but tags for safeties are expected to be worth about $11.6 million.
Denver still wants to sign Simmons to a long-term contract extension — tagging him simply means he can’t negotiate with other teams. In the past, Broncos general manager John Elway has always signed tagged players to long-term contract extensions.
Elway previously agreed to deals with kicker Matt Prater (2012), left tackle Ryan Clady (2013), wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (2015) and outside linebacker Von Miller (2016) after originally tagging them.
Simmons expects the same thing to happen with him.
“We’re kind of [being optimistic] because of in the past when the Broncos have used a tag and Elway’s used it, they’ve always worked out a longterm deal,” Simmons told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Feb. 24. “So we’re pretty confident that we’ll be able to work something out.”
