Eagles Seem Set At Safety With One Domino To Fall

Those tying Justin Simmons to Philadelphia haven't peeled back the onion past Vic Fangio.

Former NFL Denver Broncos Safety Justin Simmons holds the Justin Simmons Free Florida Youth Football Camp on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at South Fork High School. / ERIC HASERT/TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK

PHILADELPHIA - If nickels were being handed out to everyone who has connected Justin Simmons to Philadelphia, let's just say there would be some tax bracket adjustments.

The first domino fell for the Eagles-need-a-safety crowd when another former Vic Fangio star, Eddie Jackson, made his decision and signed with the talented Baltimore Ravens.

When Simmons, 30, finally chooses a 2024 path Eagles fans can mercifully get on with their lives, and the reality that it's always been more likely than not that Fangio will lean on the returning C.J. Gardner-Johnson as well as Reed Blankenship and Sydney Brown on the back end. 

Simmons was a salary-cap casualty in March when the Broncos moved on from the playmaking former All-Pro in the wake of a massive dead-money hit with former quarterback Russell Wilson.

From 2019 to 2021, Simmons was with Fangio in Denver and the results were impressive with two second-team All-Pro berths and 14 interceptions over that span.

So it’s not that the speculation isn’t rooted in something. That said, it’s also clear that those doing the prognosticating haven’t necessarily been paying attention to what has been going on in Philly, where Howie Roseman has already heavily invested in getting Gardner-Johnson back to the Eagles after coming up short in the Xavier McKinney sweepstakes. 

Roseman then bought out the restricted free agency year of Reed Blankenship for $3,575 million.

The Blankenship deal is an important highlighter to Roseman’s plans at the position that many have missed.

Originally an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State in 2022, if Roseman considered the ascending Blankenship as a backup he would have allowed him to play out the final year of his UDFA deal at a more cost-effective price and decided on tendering after the 2024 season.

You never say never with Roseman because if Simmons exhausts his options for a starting-level deal and agrees to a Devin White special, with $3.5M or $4M in guarantees plus incentives to reunite with Fangio, sure the Eagles may bite. More so, the longer Simmons is out there make him an option is an injury crops up.

All of that has always been a long shot and remains one as training camp approaches.  

Justin Simmons on the past four months of since he was released from the #Broncos:

“Obviously it’d be so great right now to know where I’m going… but ultimately I think it’s challenged me in a positive way.” pic.twitter.com/cu4Qz1jdA4

— Bradey King (@BradeyKing) July 11, 2024

“Who knows? I could sign tomorrow, I could sign two weeks into camp, I could sign first game of the season,” Simmons said at his inaugural gold classic earlier this month. “You just never know how these things go. It’s caused me to slow down and give up control, because it’s not in my control.”

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