Denver Broncos Roster, Injury News 2017: Justin Simmons Out for Season After Injuring Ankle While Celebrating
Denver Broncos strong safety Justin Simmons' season has officially come to an end after he sustained a high-ankle sprain in the first quarter of their 23–0 shutout victory over the New York Jets last Sunday.
Simmons actually hurt his left ankle when he stepped on linebacker Brandon Marshall foot while he was celebrating Marshall's sack-fumble of Jets quarterback Josh McCown.
It was a freak accident and the second-year safety had hoped that he would only miss one game, but the Broncos clearly didn't think rushing him back was a good idea especially when they were already out of the playoff race in the American Football Conference (AFC).
On Wednesday, the Broncos announced that they were Simmons on the injured reserve list.
In 13 games this season, Simmons recorded 68 tackles, a sack and two interceptions. He started all the games he appeared in this season.
In his absence, the Broncos are expected to start Will Parks at strong safety for the final three games of the season.
"Will played solid," Broncos head coach Vance Joseph said, via the team's official website. "Will's been a starter all year for us, so I wasn't surprised that he can go in a game and operate for us. It was more at high safety. But he's repped there all season, so I wasn't surprised he played well," he continued.
Nobody wants to see their teammate get hurt, but Parks is going to take full advantage of the opportunity that he's getting with Simmons on the shelf.
"Obviously it was unfortunate Justin went down so early in the game, but it's next man up," Parks said. "You pray for the opportunity to get more playing time, opportunities to make more plays out there on the field, and I had the opportunity. You take full advantage of it," he added.
