The Denver Broncos failed to reach a long-term deal with Justin Simmons before Wednesday’s deadline so the safety will play on his one-year franchise tag this season.
Leading up to the deadline, KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis tweeted that the “new economy across league may make it very difficult” for a deal to get done.
NFL teams are expected to play games with limited capacities at their stadiums this year because of COVID-19. That will lead to reduced revenue which could lead to a lower salary cap total in 2021.
Klis seemingly implied that might have played a role in Denver’s negotiations with Simmons. After the team opted not to give the safety an extension, Klis said in a tweet that “Covid-19 is [a] game changer.”
That contradicts reporting from NFL Network’s James Palmer, who tweeted Wednesday that the “2021 cap hasn’t really played a part” in negotiations.
So which is it — did COVID-19 have an impact or not?
It’s possible that the coronavirus didn’t truly play a role but the Broncos might have said it did as a possible bargaining chip in negotiations. Denver’s staff might have told Klis that’s why they didn’t make a bigger offer and Palmer might have learned that didn’t actually play a role.
Regardless of what led to a deal not getting done, the deadline’s passed and the Broncos will now have to try to re-sign Simmons again in 2021.
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