All-Pro safety has the Bengals on his short list of teams he’d consider

Would this be a smart move for the Bengals?

The Cincinnati Bengals are content, or at least they seem content, with what they’ve done at this point as far as free agency goes. I’m sure they will sing multiple more players, maybe even some guys we’ll all get really excited about. I doubt that happens until after the draft.

To be fair, it’s not just the Bengals. Free agency has slowed to a crawl as the draft approaches. Now that we’re less than two weeks away, all 32 teams seem to have narrowed their vision to scouting, pro days, and pre-draft visits and are preparing to make several huge, high-dollar decisions that could help or hurt their team’s chances of making the playoffs.

Just because they’re busy with the draft and not focused on free agency doesn’t mean we have to be, though. Kay Adams had four-time All-Pro Safety Justin Simmons on her show, “Up & Adams,” and he said there were three teams he’d be interested in signing with. Wouldn’t ya know it, the Bengals were one of those three.

The 31-year-old safety is looking for a home for what is likely one final run at a Super Bowl before he retires, and he said the most important and attractive thing a team can offer him is a “chance to get into the playoffs and go win.”

“As much as I’ll always be a Denver Bronco, you know the eight years that I was there were rough, and not having a playoff appearance, especially coming off that Super Bowl that they had,” he said on Tuesday afternoon.

He added that he chose Atlanta, where he somewhat ironically played alongside former Bengal safety Jessie Bates III, because he liked the team’s chances of competing in the division. Now, he’s looking to go somewhere where he can get a ring.

“I said it in a podcast, maybe a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month ago, but teams, like Buffalo, Philly, Cincinnati, teams like that,” he said. Teams that have always been in the mix, and obviously, Philly won it all just last year. It would be special.”

All three teams are, in theory, in the mix. The Bengals were in the mix last season, but all we got out of that was a 9-8 record despite an MVP-caliber performance from Joe Burrow and a Triple Crown season from Ja’Marr Chase. They’ve finally officially secured Chase and Higgins for the foreseeable future (still waiting on Trey, though), and they added some free agents, both on defense and along the offensive line. Most would say they haven’t done enough, and they might even agree. Maybe they’re planning more. Who knows.

Here’s what I do know: just because the Bengals seem to be happy with the combination of Geno Stone and Jordan Battle doesn’t mean they should be. Not that I dislike the idea of either of them, but I do dislike the idea of the setting, and choosing to stay with Stone and Battle seems, at least to me, to be settling. So go make something happen with someone who can upgrade the position and help bring a ring to Cincinnati.

While he’s 31, and the Bengals are allergic to most people over 30, he’s not too terribly far removed from his last Second-team All-Pro year, which was just the year before last. He was named to the Second-team All-Pro in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 and was a Pro Bowler in 2020 and 2023 as well.

Simmons started all 17 games in 2024, and according to PFF, he made 55 tackles and allowed five touchdowns, picked off two passes, and broke up four. PFF gave him a run-defense grade of 49.2 and a coverage grade of 60.8, which were his lowest grades in both categories since the 2019 season. He didn’t light the world on fire, he’s 31, and the Falcons are still on the hook for a little over $3 million in 2025, so he won’t be terribly expensive.

For comparison, Stone had a run-defense grade 45.5 and a pass-defense grade of 53.7 in 2024, and Jordan Battle had scores of 59.0 and 53.0, so Simmons would still be an improvement in pass defense if he repeated his out-of-character sub-par performance. The Bengals were carved up by opposing quarterbacks, and lost several games in which they scored more than 30 points. including two where they scored 38.

Improving the pass rush is paramount for the Bengals to get to the playoffs in 2025, and having more options is better than not having enough, especially if they need them. Maybe he’ll be available after the draft. After all he waited until August to sign with the Falcons in 2024, but he did say on the show he wanted to sign earlier if possible.

That one year contract he signed with the Falcons was for $7.5 million, which was fully guaranteed and included a signing bonus of $4.75 million, and he’d doubtfully be looking for much more.

We’ll see.

What would you think about Simmons coming to Cincinnati?

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