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The Denver Broncos have placed a one-year franchise tag on safety Justin Simmons, which means no other teams are allowed to negotiate with him when the NFL’s free agency negotiating window opens on Monday.
Franchise tags are determined by calculating the average salaries of the top-five highest-paid players at the position. For safeties, that number is around $11.6 million this year. Broncos general manager John Elway has made it clear that the team still hopes to reach a multi-year extension with Simmons.
“We remain focused on reaching a long-term contract agreement with Justin, and he’s a big priority for us,” Elway said in a statement to the team’s official website on Friday. “This is a placeholder in that process and our goal is the same — to make sure that Justin is a Bronco for a long time.”
In previous years, Elway has agreed to multi-year contract extensions 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.
Placing a tag on Simmons will allow Denver to continue negotiating a long-term deal with Simmons without other teams interfering.
Simmons, 26, totaled 93 tackles and four interceptions last season.
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