Kansas City’s head coach is confident his newly-drafted tackle will fully recover from his patellar tendon injury.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise that the Kansas City Chiefs were interested in getting an offensive tackle in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but the team wasn’t sure that former Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons would still be available when it went on the clock on Thursday night.
“I figured there might be a chance [he’d be there] — coming off an injury,” head coach Andy Reid admitted to reporters after the pick. “But I think when you guys get to know him a little bit in the time you have to study and talk to other people about him, you’ll find he’s like really, [a] super athlete. [So] that’s where we were a little bit nervous whether he’d be there or not.”
Reid was referring to the patellar tendon injury Simmons suffered in mid-October, which caused his draft stock to tumble. But after Simmons underwent physical examinations at the NFL Scouting Combine — and went through league-sponsored re-checks before passing physical examinations by Kansas City’s vice president of sports medicine Rick Burkholder — Reid is confident that his new tackle will fully recover from an injury that usually takes about six months to heal.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea of where he’s at,” said the head coach. “I mean, he’s got to go out and do it, but it’s not one of those [situations] where you’re looking at either a bad surgery or [that] he just hasn’t been working. I mean, he’s been doing all the above. The doctor did a nice job with it up to this point, so it looks like he’s in pretty good shape that way.”
Pressed for specifics, Reid said the team would “see where it goes” with regard to Simmons being available for the upcoming rookie minicamp, but added he would “definitely” be ready for training camp and “be able to do some stuff before then.”
According to the head coach, the Chiefs have had their eye on Simmons for a while. They met with him at the Combine, brought him in for a visit, and had multiple Zoom meetings with him — one as recently as Wednesday. Reid likes what he’s seen.
“I think he’s good in the run and the pass game, but obviously you’re looking for guys that can anchor down in the pass game. That becomes important — especially on the left side with a right-handed quarterback. We have such good players that we go against [who] play that defensive end spot, it’s important that you find a guy that can do that.”
Reid believes that Simmons will be able to play left tackle right away. But as usual, he and offensive line coach Andy Heck like to keep their options open. If Simmons needs more time to recover — or needs more work to be ready for the NFL — the team also has recently signed free agent tackle Jaylon Moore standing by.
“Andy plays those guys all over the place,” noted Reid, “so we’ll just try to find the five best and get [Simmons] in there going — but I feel like he can go in there [and play left tackle]. The kid that we picked up in the free agency? He can play right or left, too, so we’ve got some flexibility there.”