B.C. Lions Tony Simmons (88) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the hamilton Tigers Cats in 2007.

Photograph by: Richard Lam, PNG Files

VANCOUVER — It’s much too early to write off defensive back Stanley Franks because of a devastating knee injury, says B.C. Lions head coach Wally Buono. The proof is Tony Simmons, a wide receiver who twice underwent two major ACL surgeries in his star-crossed, 15-game career with the Lions and amazed medical experts with his recovery.

What is even more amazing is that Simmons, who spent parts of three seasons with the Lions but never managed more than eight games in a single year, still believes he can play. And he’s available, if Buono is interested.

“Maybe I’m not as fast as I was in my 20s,” Simmons, 36, says, “but I’m older and wiser and I have a lot more knowledge of the game. As long as Geroy [Simon] keeps his body together, he can play until he’s 40. I’d like to keep playing until I’m 40, too. I might phone up Wally when I get back to the States.”

For the past two seasons, Simmons, a native of Chicago, has helped American football retain a toehold in Europe, despite the disbanding of NFL Europa in 2007.

Last year, he was the first ex-NFL player to play in Denmark, as a quadruple threat for the Triangle Razorbacks, where he was a wide receiver/offensive coordinator/special teams coach/strength and speed trainer for the 11-1 Mermaid Bowl finalists.

This week found him packing his bags in Bekescsaba, Hungary, about three hours’ drive southeast of Budapest, after Simmons was let go as head coach of the Bekescsaba Raptors, despite guiding them to a 6-2 record and a place in the Division I championship of the Hungarian Football League. The title game goes Saturday, but team officials decided they could save a little money by dropping their head coach-OC-special teams coordinator and strength coach in one move. Simmons was being paid little anyway, so the decision was more of a surprise than a financial hardship.

“Ìt`s all business to me,” he said.”Ì never mix feelings with business, so I didn`t get emotional about it.”

Besides, he has a fitness/boot camp to run in Chicago, starting later this month, while advertising himself to CFL teams as a “wide receiver for hire.”

“Ì love it up there [CFL]¸” said Simmons, a second-round pick of the New England Patriots in 1998. “If I get the opportunuity, I definitely would go.”

But Buono won`t be going down that road again.

“Tony was a spectacular athlete,” he said. “Too bad he got hurt. Or he would still be playing for us.”