Not every player forms a sentimental attachment to the team that drafts them, but there’s something different about playing for the Denver Broncos. Former Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons is a free agent in 2025 after spending the 2024 season with the Atlanta Falcons, and his NFL future is currently up in the air.

Even with that in mind, Simmons is not desperate enough to go on one of the biggest football programs in the media and beg for a job with the Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, quite the opposite. Simmons appeared on the Up and Adams show and refused to take Kay Adams’s bait when she was trying to sell him on the idea of joining the Kansas City Chiefs, a team he’s spent his entire NFL career hating and trying to beat.

Former Broncos safety Justin Simmons still hates the Chiefs

Simmons was drafted by the Broncos back in 2016, a third-round pick out of Boston College. He came into the NFL as a backup for the vaunted “No Fly Zone” before becoming an All-Pro and Pro Bowl player himself in Denver.

Sadly, Simmons has never made the playoffs as an NFL player. It’s absolutely brutal that he joined the Denver Broncos the year after Super Bowl 50 and wound up getting cut the same year the team ended its long playoff drought.

Even though Simmons did a lot of losing in Denver, he was embraced by the fans and made a huge impact. It’s likely that he will end up in the team’s Ring of Fame someday. He still bleeds orange and blue and you can hear it in the way he responds to Adams in this interview.

Even when Devin McCourty tries to come in and convince him, Simmons isn’t having it. He takes a diplomatic approach by saying he’s not foolish enough to close a door, but he wants to be on a team that beats the Chiefs. Simmons is not about the, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” kind of life.

And you never know what the future may hold. If his only offer this offseason would happen to come from the Chiefs, then perhaps he would change his tune. But a deeply rooted hatred for the Chiefs is engrained in Simmons, just as it is for any longstanding member of Broncos Country. Simmons was one of the top leaders on the teams for most of his eight years in Denver. Representing the franchise meant something to him and he doesn’t take it lightly.

There are often separations for players and teams that cause them to want a shot at revenge against their old club. The Broncos didn’t exactly do Simmons dirty this past offseason. Cutting him was a pretty standard business move with a boatload of dead cap from the Russell Wilson situation.

You hate to see players like this — a player who is truly a good person — experience the brutal side of the NFL business, but Simmons will eventually have options. It’s great to see him sticking to his roots and it’s rare to see such a bad “L” from Kay Adams.