The Kansas City Chiefs spent their first-round pick on left tackle Josh Simmons, who was working out swimmingly until he stopped showing up to games.
Simmons has been absent from the team’s last three contests, all wins, due to undisclosed family issues. Head coach Andy Reid offered some mild elaboration on the topic last week.
“My update for you on Josh would just be, there’s communication,” Reid told reporters on October 23. “I’m not going to get into all of it. Everything’s positive. It’s not a negative situation. He’s taking care of family.”
Albert Breer of SI offered the most recent update on Simmons’ status in his Tuesday column.
What I know is that the issue first arose just before the Jaguars game. Simmons ended up playing in that matchup, then left right before the Lions game. The cited family aspect of his absence is real, and that was a part of the background that teams had to work through when he was coming out.
Here’s the other detail that’s important: If the Chiefs felt like this was going to be an absence of more than a month, they would’ve placed him on the non-football injury list. So the timeline, as they worked with Simmons (and they’ve been in constant communication with him of late), has been more week-to-week than long-term. And getting Simmons back is another reason to believe the Chiefs are only going to get better over the months to come.
Josh Simmons Likely to Return to Chiefs Soon
GettyKansas City Chiefs left tackle Josh Simmons.
The implication from Breer is that Simmons could be back as early as next week against the Buffalo Bills.
However, Nate Davis of ESPN predicted that the tackle’s return would come during Kansas City’s bye the following week.
“A logical time for Simmons to return to the Chiefs could be in early November during the team’s bye week,” Davis wrote on October 24.
Kansas City has won three contests in a row and five out of six games, including on “Monday Night Football” over the Washington Commanders on October 27.
After the game against the Bills in Buffalo and their bye week, the Chiefs travel to Denver to take on the Broncos and then host the Indianapolis Colts (7-1), currently the organization with the best record in the NFL.
Jaylon Moore Filling in Nicely for Absent Josh Simmons
GettyOffensive tackle Jaylon Moore of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City’s recent success — particularly on the offensive side of the ball, where the Chiefs are averaging just under 31 points per game over their last five outings — is particularly encouraging because it came without Simmons in the lineup.
The 22-year-old product out of Ohio State fulfilled the team’s top priority over the offseason, which was to improve an offensive line that cost Kansas City its third consecutive Super Bowl title in January.
“The two-year, $30 million deal the Chiefs gave Jaylon Moore in the offseason, even if he’s not the starting left tackle they paid him to be, is money well spent,” Breer continued. “The Chiefs have depth at those positions that they didn’t before. Last year, a black hole at left tackle forced the team to move Joe Thuney there, setting off a cascade that blew up in the team’s Super Bowl loss. They’ll likely have no such problem this year.”
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