Falcons land safety Justin Simmons

Idle daydreams can become reality, after all. While we repeatedly talked about the strength of the free agent safety market this spring, we didn’t really expect the Atlanta Falcons to make a significant investment in the position with Jessie Bates, Richie Grant, and DeMarcco Hellams on board. With Hellams suffering a significant injury recently, however, the Falcons have made a big move and signed the top free agent available.

That would be Justin Simmons, who the team is reportedly signing. It’s being reported as a one year, $8 million deal, but who cares about the money? This is a huge upgrade for this defense, and it’s impossible not to be excited about that.

Simmons is a proven, high-end starter who will slot in with Jessie Bates at the position and give Atlanta the best starting tandem in the NFL. A four-time second team All Pro and two-time Pro Bowler, Simmons has 30 career interceptions over eight NFL seasons and routinely grades out as one of the best run defenders at the position in the entire league. While his coverage work in recent seasons hasn’t been superlative, he’s quite good and excels at creating turnovers, with nine interceptions and five forced fumbles over the past two seasons, representing 27 games. The longtime Denver Bronco was seemingly beloved by teammates and coaches there, as well.

Paired with Bates, who is also a big-time playmaker, Simmons should be a steadying force who will help create nightmares for opposing quarterbacks. The duo has a preposterous 19 combined interceptions over the past two seasons.

Whether the Falcons were already thinking about Simmons when Hellams went down or not, the end result is a significantly upgraded safety room just when our anxiety about this defense was rising. Atlanta still has a bit of a question mark opposite A.J. Terrell, where Mike Hughes is in the driver’s seat and Clark Phillips is battling for the starting job, but otherwise their starting secondary group suddenly looks like one of the league’s best. For a squad that still has question marks up front even after the trade for Judon, the quality of the back end of the defense is likely to be hugely consequential to the team’s 2024 fortunes. This is still an offense-first, run-up-the-score squad based on its build, but adding Judon and Simmons increases the chances that the defense will be able to hang.

With Richie Grant now likely to serve as the team’s third safety, a nice option for him given his proficiency as a pass rush and run defender closer to the line of scrimmage, Atlanta’s in great shape at the position even if Hellams misses a significant chunk of the season. This and the trade for Matthew Judon have significantly altered the outlook for this defense, renewing the contender sheen on this Falcons franchise. They just need to make it to the season relatively healthy and we’ll hopefully see Simmons, Bates, Judon, and the gang go crazy against opposing offenses.

Welcome Simmons to Atlanta, and let’s look forward to something bigger and better than we’re used to on defense this year.