Safety Justin Simmons retires at age 32

Justin Simmons (Jeffrey Beall, Wikimedia Commons)

National Football League safety Justin Simmons of Manassas, Virginia has retired at the age of 32 according to Julia Stumbaugh of Bleacher Report on Wednesday. Simmons played nine seasons in the National Football League. He was with the Denver Broncos for eight seasons from 2016 to 2023, and one season with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024. Simmons dis not play the 2025 NFL season as the length of his contract with the Falcons was only one season.

In nine seasons, Simmons played 134 games in the NFL. He had 666 combined tackles (479 solo tackles and 187 assisted tackles), 21 tackles for a loss, five quarterback hits, 32 interceptions for 442 yards, one pick six, 71 pass deflections, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries for 42 yards and 4.5 sacks. Simmons also led the NFL with six interceptions in 2022.

Twice Simmons was selected to the Pro Bowl. He was honoured in 2020 and 2023. In 2020, Simmons had 96 combined tackles (77 solo tackles and 19 assisted tackles), three tackles for a loss, five interceptions for 90 yards, nine pass deflections and one fumble recovery for 18 yards. The fumble recovery came in an 18-12 Broncos win over the New England Patriots on October 18, 2020.

In 2023, Simmons had 70 combined tackles (53 solo tackles and 17 assisted tackles), two tackles for a loss, three interceptions for 39 yards, eight pass deflections, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery for seven yards, and one sack. The fumble recovery came in a 24-9 Denver Broncos upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs on October 29. One forced fumble came in another Broncos upset. This time it was a 24-22 Broncos win over the Buffalo Bills on November 13. Meanwhile, on December 10, Simmons had one sack and one forced fumble in a 24-7 Broncos win over the Los Angeles Chargers.