In his opening remarks to reporters during Wednesday’s media availability, Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid had unexpected news — but said little about it.
“As far as the Josh Simmons situation goes, I’m not going to comment on it today,“ said Reid. ”[General Manager Brett] Veach is handling everything there — and we’ll leave it at that.“
What, exactly, is the situation surrounding the team’s starting left tackle?
At this point, we can only speculate.
In the final injury report before its Week
6 game against the Detroit Lions, Kansas City had no injury designations.
That changed roughly five hours before Sunday’s kickoff, jump-starting a mystery that remains unsolved as of Wednesday afternoon.
Starting left tackle Josh Simmons was added to the injury report with a personal designation just before 2 p.m. Arrowhead Time on Sunday.
An hour later, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo clarified that Simmons was “dealing with a family matter back home in California.” Just after 5 p.m. — about 45 minutes before the Chiefs were to announce their inactive players for the game — James Palmer reported Simmons would be out for the matchup.
Before Wednesday’s practice, Reid could not be persuaded to give more details, refusing to even say whether Simmons would be available for that day’s practice. We only confirmed Simmons had been absent from practice — officially listed as not injury related-personal — with the release of Wednesday’s injury report.
In his turn at the podium, quarterback Patrick Mahomes followed his head coach’s lead.
“I’ll keep conversations between us,” Mahomes said of his recent contacts with his left tackle. “I’m always praying for him. I pray for all my teammates, so I’m always praying for him. I’ll just keep everything else private between us.”
On Sunday — recalling defensive tackle Chris Jones’ mad dash back to Kansas City after his aunt’s funeral before the Week 5 game against the Baltimore Ravens — reporters were hesitant to rule out the possibility that Simmons would be back before kickoff. Now, however, it’s clear that Simmons’ situation is different.
Fortunately for the Chiefs’ offense, swing tackle Jaylon Moore played well while filling in for Simmons against the Lions.
So far, Simmons’ career trajectory has been one to remember. He is valuable to Kansas City well beyond 2025, so we can expect the team to use whatever resources are needed to help him.
Stay tuned.
