Justin Simmons reveals career plans after retirement from NFL

Former safety Justin Simmons signed a ceremonial contract to retire with the Denver Broncos last week. What comes next for the four-time Pro Bowler remains to be seen.

This year, Simmons will focus on making plans and "shadowing" others in positions he might one day pursue. He'd like to get into broadcasting, and he'd like to get involved in high school football, but not necessarily as a coach (at least not right away).

"I think the real impact, at least I know I’m going to do, at least down the road, is some type of high school position," Simmons said during his retirement press conference. "Not necessarily saying a coach. As you guys know, throughout my career, all I care about is giving back. What a shame for me to have this platform and not be able to share it and give back in the same way that people gave to me. I’m going to find out some way, shape, or form or fashion of doing that."

First things first, though, Simmons said he will spend time with his family (and hit the golf course) before jumping into a new career.

"[F]or this next year, I’m trying to make up for what I feel like is lost time with the family," Simmons said. "We’re going to do little fun trips and things that we were not able to do during the season. We’re a big Disney family if you guys didn’t know or follow my Instagram. Little things like that."

Simmons will be calculated with his next career steps, and he hopes to learn from Broncos play-by-play radio broadcast Dave Logan (a decorated high school football coach) this fall.

"Dave Logan is a great dude, and he’s doing it at a really high level coaching," Simmons said. "He’s someone that I look up to. So grab coffee with him and pick his brain about being a coach. What are the challenges? What are the things that you enjoy about it? What are the hard things that are difficult to handle, like parents? There are a bunch of things that go behind that, but I think I’m going to slowly integrate myself into something, but I’m not looking to jump into anything [immediately]. That will be fun.”