Simmons and Mims earn second-team All-pro honors
Simmons miffed that teammate Pat Surtain II was left off the teams altogether
Justin Simmons got good news Friday, but couldn’t help feel like his teammate got snubbed.
The Broncos veteran safety was named a secondteam All-pro by the Associated Press. Though he’s never been a first-teamer, Simmons has been a second-team selection four times in the past five seasons, cementing his place among the very best at his position in the NFL.
On Friday, though, he couldn’t believe that teammate Pat Surtain II, a firstteam selection last year, didn’t crack the top two teams this winter.
“No PS2 is crazy,” Simmons wrote on social media. “No disrespect to the guys that made it because they are heck of players but anyone that watches what we do knows Pat is an All Pro this year AGAIN!! Check his numbers against (No. 1) receivers. Unbelievable. AT MINIMUM second team.”
Surtain finished seventh in the cornerback voting, garnering 21 votes from the 50-person voting panel and five first-place votes.
Simmons and Surtain are each Pro Bowl starters for the AFC team this year. So, too, is rookie Marvin Mims Jr. as a return man.
Mims made the AP’S second-team All-pro as a kick returner. He returned a kick 99 yards for a touchdown Week 3 at Miami and averaged 26.5 yards per return. He led the NFL (10-plus chances) at 16.4 yards per punt return
“It’s a tip of the cap to everybody,” special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica said Week 18 after Mims’ Pro Bowl nod. “If you look at most of the metrics, we’re one of the top five units in the league and that’s a credit to everybody across the board.”
Simmons battled a groin/ hip injury early in the season but played 15 games and finished with three interceptions, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 70 tackles for Denver.
No one element turned Denver’s defense from one of the worst in recent NFL history early in the season into a staunch group through the middle part, but players and coaches alike called Simmons’ return to good health maybe the single biggest factor.
“He is the quarterback,” defensive backs coach Christian Parker told The Denver Post during the season. “Justin’s command is at a very high level. He has his PHD.”
A year ago, Surtain was named a first-team All-pro by just about every outlet that made such a list. Earlier this week, he was named a first-team Allpro by NFL players in the NFLPA voting.
The AP’S top cornerback pair: Sauce Gardner of the New York Jets and Daron Bland of the Dallas Cowboys. Chicago’s Jaylon Johnson and San Francisco’s Charvarius Ward made the second team.
The first-team All-pro quarterback: Not surprisingly it’s Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, the heavy favorite to be named the NFL’S Most Valuable Player.
Valor Christian graduate and San Francisco running back Christian Mccaffrey was named to the first team at running back, one of four 49ers named to the first-team offense. Mccaffrey was one of two players (with Miami WR Tyreek Hill) to earn unanimous first-place voting.
Here are the other Broncos who received votes: Fullback Michael Burton (8 votes, 2 first-place), wide receiver Courtland Sutton (1), left tackle Garett Bolles (2), right guard Quinn Meinerz (6, 1 first-place), inside linebacker Alex Singleton (2), nickel Ja’quan Mcmillian (1), punter Riley Dixon (2), Mims as a punt returner (18 votes, 5 first-place) and long-snapper Mitchell Fraboni (8).