Left Tackle Josh Simmons’ Return to Chiefs Gets New Update
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.”
NFL Insider Puts Broncos QB Bo Nix in ‘Tier Below’ Other First Round Picks
For a long time, ESPN’s Ben Solak has made it clear how little he thinks of Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.
Continually, Solak has put Nix behind a group that includes Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels and New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye — the top 3 quarterbacks taken in the 2024 NFL draft.
Now, despite the last 2 weeks of Nix playing at as high of a level as any quarterback in the NFL and despite the Broncos’ 6-2 record and despite Nix leading the Broncos to the playoffs as a rookie, Solak tossed another slight toward Denver’s franchise player.
This time, it came with Solak’s weekly mailbag, where he was asked to rank all of the quarterbacks from that 2024 draft class as it stands today, including a record-tying 6 first round picks, with Nix the last of those 6 taken.
Solak put Maye at No. 1, followed by Daniels and Williams before inserting a “Tier Break” between those quarterbacks followed by Nix, New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and, one tier lower, seldom-seen Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Only Rattler, who was just benched in favor of rookie Tyler Shough, was taken outside the first round.
Here are their records as starting quarterbacks in the NFL headed into Week 9 of the 2025 regular season, in the order Solak ranked them:
- Maye (9-11)
- Daniels (14-8)
- Williams (9-15)
- Nix (16-9)
- Rattler (1-13)
- Penix (4-5)
- McCarthy (1-1)
From that, we can discern winning and losing don’t really figure in Solak’s rankings. Which means it’s safe to assume this is just a case of Solak capping for Maye on a level not seen since Jennifer Jason Leigh copied Bridget Fonda’s hairdo in Single White Female.
Not First Slight of Nix by ESPN’s Solak
Following the 2024 season, Solak used hot-take analytics to justify leaving Nix off his All-Rookie Team in favor of Maye.
Solak did this despite Nix outpacing Maye in every important statistical category for a quarterback and leading Denver to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season — and doing it with a broken back.
Maye was the second team quarterback behind Daniels, who was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
“It was very difficult to exclude Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, who improved over the course of the season and looks like a long-term starter,” Solak wrote on January 15. “While Nix outproduced Maye in raw stats, it is worth noting that Maye was better by success rate and first down/touchdown rate, indicating a high level of efficiency — despite getting pressured on 37.3% of his dropbacks compared to Nix’s 28.0%. Nix ripped off more explosive plays, but given his superior pass protection and receiving corps, that is not surprising. Both look like franchise guys, but Maye did it in a much worse environment and gets the second-team spot.”
Of the 4 rookies who became full time starters in 2024 — Maye, Williams, Nix and Daniels — only Nix and Daniels led their teams to the playoffs.
Out of those 4, Nix ended the longest playoff drought, guiding the Broncos to the postseason for the first time in 9 years.
