The window for NFL teams to use franchise tags opened Tuesday and it will close on March 9. That gives the Denver Broncos two weeks to negotiate a multi-year contract extension with safety Justin Simmons before the tag deadline arrives.
Denver hopes to reach an agreement with Simmons instead of having to use the tag, according to a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
“This is one of the big things on the plate of new general manager George Paton,” Rapoport said on NFL Network on Monday. “They’d like to get a new long-term deal done with Simmons. They’re going to try to do this before they have to tag him a second time … the goal of the organization is to avoid that and just lock him in now.”
If the Broncos are unable to reach an extension before March 9 and place a one-year tag on Simmons, it will be worth $13.729 million (a 20% increase from when he was tagged last year). Denver wanted to sign Simmons to an extension after tagging him in 2020 but failed to reach an agreement before the mid-July deadline.
This year, the Broncos hope to avoid the tag altogether by getting an extension done within the next 14 days. The NFL’s highest-paid safety is Budda Baker, who earns an average of $14.75 million per year from the Arizona Cardinals. Simmons’ agents will likely seek a similar salary for their client.
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