What Is The Real Story Behind Rookie Josh Simmons’ Absence From Chiefs
With the Kansas City Chiefs set to begin practice and game plan installation for their Week Eight Monday Night Football game against the Washington Commanders at Arrowhead Stadium, there was still no indication that 2025 first-round draft pick Josh Simmons would show up for those practice sessions.
On Tuesday, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt made his first statement on Simmons’ ongoing absence from the team — but he didn’t shed much light on the situation and may have only made it more baffling.
Simmons, an offensive left tackle out of Ohio State was taken 32nd overall by the Chiefs in the draft, and started the first four games of the season without incident.
First Hint Something Was Wrong Came in Week 5
The first indication that something may be wrong with Simmons came shortly before the Chiefs Week Five Monday matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars when, just hours before kickoff, the team added Simmons to its injury report, listing him as “questionable” due to “illness.” But no further information was offered, and Simmons started the game as normal.
In fact, Simmons was on the field for all 64 offensive snaps in that game, the second time this season that he played 100 percent of his team’s snaps. In his five games, Simmons has played 95.2 percent of the Chiefs’ snaps on offense.
Simmons continued to play at high level. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed only one sack with a pass blocking grade of 73.
But six days later, after first announcing that there were no injuries for their game against the Detroit Lions, the team suddenly revised the report to announce that Simmons was out for the game with the cause listed as “Not Injury Related – Personal.”
Owner Asked About Simmons Situation
NFL Network correspondent Ian Rapoport subsequently reported that Simmons was “dealing with a family matter back home in California.”
Simmons has not been seen at the Chiefs facility since. He missed Sunday’s Week Seven game against the Las Vegas Raiders as well. The Chiefs stayed mum about the situation, with coach Andy Reid saying on multiple occasions that general manager Brett Veach would “handle” the Simmons issue.
In fact, as recently as Monday — the morning after the Chiefs’ 31-0 victory over the Raiders — Reid again said that he had no updates on Simmons, and referred the matter to Veach. “And so we just, you know, move on with that,” Reid said.
On Monday at the fall NFL league meetings in New York City, Hunt — the 60-year-old billionaire son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt who owns the team with three of his siblings and serves as Kansas City CEO — was asked by ESPN NFL writer Kalyn Kahler “if he could tell us what’s going on with rookie left tackle Josh Simmons.”
But even the owner responded evasively, saying only, “I really can’t comment,” as quoted by Kahler.
Practices For Week 8 Could Clear Up Mystery
About a week ago, future Hall of Fame quarterback Patrick Mahomes — who Simmons is charged with protecting from opposing pass rushers — admitted that he had been surprised to learn that the rookie left tackle was missing from the team, a situation which according to
Simmons, as of Tuesday night, had not been placed on the NFL’s NFI (Non-Football Injury) list, a move that would rule him out for figure weeks and allow the Chiefs to replace him for that period on their roster.
The fact that Simmons remains off the list appears to signal that the Chiefs expect him back in action sooner that that four-week period — but based on whether or not he appears at practice this week, Simmons’ situation will either be cleared up, or grow more mysterious.
DeMeco Ryans refuses to 'point the finger' of blame at offensive coordinator Nick Caley
Fans of the Houston Texans must be starting to feel like they're Bill Murray's character -- Phil Connors, a curmudgeonly and cynical weatherman who slowly slips into madness as he inexplicably wakes up to 'I Got You Babe' every single morning while on assigment in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania -- in the movie Groundhog Day, stuck in a never-ending loop where the same issues that plagued their teams offense in 2024 are being relived on a weekly basis throughout the 2025 season as well.
The difference is, Texans fans have been forced to watch an offense that showed so much promise during the 2023 season stumble over and over again in both 2024 and 2025, despite the fact that general manager Nick Caserio has put plenty of resources toward improving Houston's offense each season.
Understandably, it's caused most Texans fans to point the finger of blame at first-year/first-time offensive coordinator Nick Caley, whose underwhelming performance as a play-caller this year has prompted unexpected existential questions like,
With that said, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans isn't prepared to point the finger of blame at Caley, despite Houston's below-average offensive ranks across the board, many of which are actually lower than during the 2024 season. In fact, Ryans is putting all of the blame on himself, falling on his proverbial sword in order to protect his OC.
DeMeco Ryans reiterates that Texans have no plans for personnel changes
"It all starts with me," Ryans said on Tuesday, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. "So, you guys want to point the finger at somebody, put it on me. That's my job, and ultimately, it's my job to get it fixed. So that's how it'll be, but we're rolling on what we have, and we got to just all do better. Got to coach you better. We got to play better. We got to execute better on game day. And look, as bad as it seems, I tell the guys at the end of the day, we're still one possession from getting that game."
It's not just Monday night's loss to Seattle that the Texans were one possession from getting. In each of their four losses, the Texans have lost by no more than eight points. But this highlights the fundamental issue with this team... even with a defense that is capable of slowing down or turning over some of the league's most effective offenses, Houston's offense can't quite get the job done.
But like a true leader -- and when a guy's nickname is Mufasa, you know he has some top-tier leadership qualities -- DeMeco Ryans insists that the Texans will move forward with the staff in place right now. Even if fans want Nick Caley's job, Ryans likely knows it's too early to give in.
"We're pressing forward with everybody that we have," Ryans declared. "We're collectively all in this together."
