After the Denver Broncos released veteran safety Justin Simmons to save salary cap space this spring, the team signed Brandon Jones in free agency as a replacement.
In Denver, Jones will reunite with several former Texas Longhorns teammates, including fellow safeties P.J. Locke and Caden Sterns. The 26-year-old safety consulted his former college teammates before signing with the Broncos.
“Throughout the whole process, anybody I had connections with at any team in the league, I was kind of picking their brains and seeing what kind of scheme they run,” Jones said in May. “For sure with those two guys. I got into it with them, just tried to learn the defense to see what the similarities and differences were and that sort of stuff.”
Locke and Sterns aren’t the only former Longhorns reuniting with Jones. Broncos wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey and defensive lineman Malcolm Roach also overlapped with those three defensive backs in 2018.
“We had a little ongoing joke today,” Jones said of having three Longhorns at safety. “Every day it is something new. Mostly Malcolm, he kind of instigates everything. It kind of gives a college-type of vibe with us three, but yes, it’s really cool and super unique.”
Jones and Roach arrived at Texas together in 2016 and played four years together before entering the NFL. Now reunited in Denver, not much has changed.
“Malcolm has honestly been the same since we were freshmen in college,” Jones said. “He definitely has vocal leadership qualities. He’s a guy that keeps everybody and holds everybody accountable. [He] goes 100 miles an hour every time he’s on the field and just really brings that juice.”
With five Longhorns on the team — and four of them together on defense — the Broncos will certainly have a Texas vibe this fall.
