The Russell Wilson Era is underway in Dove Valley, where optimism is high that the Broncos can return to playoff contention.
But as Justin Simmons emphasized Tuesday, having an elite quarterback won’t mean much if the Broncos’ defense doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain.
That unit ranked third in points allowed a season ago, and the Pro Bowl safety knows that performance needs to be replicated — or bettered — for the Broncos to rise to the high expectations that arrived with last month’s trade for Wilson.
“We know in a lot of cases and a lot of scenarios, it’s a quarterback-driven league,” Simmons said. “But from a defensive perspective, I don’t like having that (mindset) out there… Every game we went into last year was, ‘We can win this game (as a defense), and defense wins championships.’
“That’s still the standard for us moving forward. If we want to compete and hold up that Lombardi Trophy, it’s no doubt going to come down to how we play on the defensive side of the ball. That’s going to be our attitude and mentality all year.”
While general manager George Paton is counting on Simmons to continue to lead and for outside linebacker Bradley Chubb to finally be healthy again and return to Pro Bowl form, he has been busy beefing up other areas. Paton signed outside linebacker Randy Gregory, defensive tackle D.J. Jones, nickel back K’Waun Williams and inside linebacker Alex Singleton as free agents and also re-signed safety Kareem Jackson and defensive tackle DeShawn Williams.
It’s a lot of new faces in critical spots under first-time defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who is installing a 3-4 scheme similar to what the Broncos ran the past three seasons under Vic Fangio. Much of the offseason program, which started Monday, will be focused on learning Evero’s differing verbiage and wrinkles.
“We’re just now getting into those little intricacies (of the defensive scheme), but from my understanding there’s going to be a lot of things that are going to be the same to the defense we ran in years prior,” Simmons said.
The Broncos also return inside linebacker Josey Jewell, who re-signed with a two-year deal after missing the majority of last season with a torn pectoral sustained in Week 2. And there’s reason to believe Pat Surtain II, whom Simmons said is one of the league’s top five cornerbacks, will continue to improve following a strong rookie season.
It will also be up to Denver veterans such as Jewell, Simmons and Jackson to get Williams acclimated this spring, considering the inconsistencies by the secondary in 2021. The Broncos ranked eighth in average passing yards allowed but struggled closing out close games and stopping big plays (11 passes of 40-plus yards allowed).
“Figuring out how we ebb-and-flow as a secondary within a new scheme is going to be really important,” Simmons said. “The first couple games in the season last year, there were big plays left and right in the secondary. A lot of that had to do with communication (breakdowns), especially on my end.”
With Wilson leading the offense, and an improved defense, Simmons believes the Broncos can break their six-year playoff drought.
“There’s no denying the different energy and vibe in the building, and the confidence the guys are walking around with right now,” he said. “Defensively, the No. 1 thing we’ve talked about so far is that we’re going to be in games and Russ is known for a bunch of different things… but ultimately what an opportunity it is for us to solidify (as a unit).
“Maybe he doesn’t even need to have those fourth-quarter comebacks because we’re getting those critical stops.”
