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Chiefs Rookie T Josh Simmons Not Expected To Start Week 1

June 8th, 2025 at 8:27pm CST by Ely Allen

After falling just short of a Super Bowl three-peat, the Chiefs were forced to reckon with how much the team that did win the Super Bowl dominated them in the trenches. As a result, Kansas City’s first three picks in the draft and its biggest free agent signing all addressed the offensive and defensive lines. Their top overall draft pick, though, is likely not expected to be a main contributor to start the 2025 season, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

The Chiefs traded back a spot and utilized the final pick of the first round on Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons. Simmons started his collegiate career at San Diego State, starting every game of his redshirt freshman season at right tackle before transferring to Columbus. He immediately stepped in as the Buckeyes starting left tackle in 2023, and even though he missed 10 games last year, he still earned All-Big Ten honorable mention.

Part of the reason Simmons is not expected to start in Week 1 is because of what caused him to miss 10 games last year. Projected to be in contention for the honor of top lineman in the draft, Simmons draft stock took a hit when he suffered a ruptured patellar tendon only six games into the season. Apart from how challenging it can be for a rookie to adjust to the NFL game, Breer notes that that kind of knee injury can be harder for big men to come back from than a torn ACL.

Add in the fact that the Chief’s biggest free agent signing this offseason was former 49ers backup offensive tackle Jaylon Moore, and the team’s plans start to become clear. Moore came to Kansas City on a two-year, $30MM deal after four years in San Francisco, where he served as a swing tackle who started games in place of Trent Williams and others. Over the course of his rookie contract, Moore played in 55 games but started only 12 of them.

The beauty of signing Moore to a two-year deal is that it will likely serve two purposes. In 2025, Moore is expected to man the starting left tackle spot across from Jawaan Taylor. This will allow Simmons to take his time to recover to full health and catch up to the speed of the NFL game with no pressure. The second purpose was hinted at over a month ago, when head coach Andy Reid expressed the team’s view that Moore could play multiple positions on the offensive line. Considering he’s never played at snap at guard in the NFL, the presumption, then, is that Reid means he can play both left and right tackle.

After the 2025 season, Taylor’s contract contains a potential out that reduces his dead cap money from $34.78MM if cut in 2025 to $7.39MM if cut in the next league year. One could imagine, Breer posits, that Kansas City would be able to free up $20MM of cap space, move Moore from left to right tackle, and let Simmons take over at left tackle in 2026.

So, sure, Simmons isn’t expected to start Week 1 in 2025, but that also doesn’t exactly mean that he’ll be redshirting his rookie year. Once he’s fully healthy, the Chiefs will likely try to work Simmons into the line somehow. Maybe they’ll start him out on the interior, or they could shift Moore inside, if Reid really meant what he said about multiple positions, and allow Simmons to get accustomed to the starting spot on the blind side. Either way, the plan for Simmons is likely focused much further out than Week 1 of the upcoming season.

AFC West Notes: OL, Chargers, Chiefs, Carroll, Broncos

May 18th, 2025 at 5:07pm CST by Ely Allen

Bradley Bozeman has been a starting center in the NFL for most of the past four seasons. He has never graded out as one of the NFL’s best centers, though, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), so the Chargers are starting to experiment with lining former first-round pick Zion Johnson up at center in 2025, per Daniel Popper of The Athletic, bumping Bozeman out to left guard.

Starting as a backup center with the Ravens in 2018, Bozeman was bumped out to left guard so that he could be in the starting lineup in his sophomore season with the team. In the final year of his rookie contract, Baltimore moved Bozeman back to center. As a free agent he signed a one-year deal as a backup to Pat Elflein in Carolina, earning the starting gig when Elflein went out with a season-ending injury. After he stepped up, Carolina extended him to a three-year, $18MM extension but released him just a year later. He rebounded by signing with the Chargers, who, like the Panthers, gave him an extension after his first year with the team.

Johnson has yet to live up to his first-round status in Los Angeles; the Chargers declined his fifth-year option this month. He took over as a starter immediately as a rookie but has been only average at left guard. While it may not result in a permanent switch, it makes sense for the Chargers to at least try swapping Johnson and Bozeman. Neither has been outstanding at their initial positions, and working in a new spot may help one or both players be more comfortable moving forward. With Mekhi Becton improving the right guard spot as he joins a pretty great tackle pair in Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, the Chargers will hope that the swap results in an upgrade to their two weaker offensive line positions.

Here are a few more offseason rumors from around the AFC West:

  • In a slightly similar situation, the Raiders will be cross-training rookie tackle Charles Grant in hopes that he can serve as the team’s swing tackle, according to Tashan Reed of The Athletic. Las Vegas used back-to-back picks on offensive tackles in the third round back in April, selecting Grant right after drafting Texas Tech’s Caleb Rogers. Rogers may end up getting more looks on the interior as a pro, while the Raiders plan on Grant being an option to play at both tackle spots. Grant spent all five years of his time at William & Mary as a left tackle, but with Kolton Miller entrenched in that starting spot, Grant’s best path to playing time is to compete with second-year right tackle DJ Glaze. It’s not easy to switch from side to side at tackle in the NFL, so Vegas will experiment with Grant at both spots to be safe. They’ll see how well he takes on the shift to the right side in order to determine if he can compete with Glaze, but if he can’t make the change, they’ll keep him working at left tackle, as well, as an option to backup Miller.
  • While Chiefs rookie offensive tackle Josh Simmons‘ slide to the last pick of the first round was credited in large part to medical red flags, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler informs us that “character concerns” were a bigger deterrent during the pre-draft process. Fowler asserts that most teams he consulted with were not overly concerned with the patellar tendon tear that ended Simmons’ 2024 campaign. Instead, concerns with his approach to practices and run blocking gave pause to teams with mid- to late-first-round picks.
  • In a recent Q&A, Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal fielded a question about whether or not the eventual replacement for Raiders head coach Pete Carroll was already in the building. Carroll is currently on a three-year deal with a fourth-year team option, but if the 73-year-old skipper opted to hang up his headset after putting the team on the right track, Bonsignore does have an eye on a potential successor in the building. Carroll’s two sons are both currently on staff with him in Las Vegas; Brennan Carroll works as the team’s offensive line coach, while Nate Carroll serves as assistant quarterbacks coach. According to Bonsignore, the elder brother, Brennan, is an up-and-coming coach with experience as an offensive coordinator with two programs at the collegiate level. If the eldest Carroll boy is going to get an NFL head coaching opportunity, the cleanest path likely lies in Vegas.
  • As linebacker Alex Singleton continues striving to make his return from a midseason ACL tear, the Broncos have just been aiming to get him back in time for their 2025 season opener. In an update from Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post, it was reported that Singleton is on track to return in time for training camp. The former undrafted free agent has been increasingly impressive as he’s earned more and more responsibility during stints with the Eagles and Broncos. Even with the first major injury of his career, the 31-year-old continues to surpass expectations with a quick and smooth rehabilitation process.

Chiefs Sign First-Round T Josh Simmons

May 4th, 2025 at 9:58pm CST by Ely Allen

Following closely on the tails of the Cowboys and offensive guard Tyler Booker, the Chiefs have come to terms with Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons on his first-round rookie contract. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the four-year contract (with a fifth-year option) for the 32nd overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft is worth $14.68MM.

Simmons could end up being a bit of a project in the NFL. After a redshirt season at San Diego State, Simmons started a season at right tackle for the Aztecs before transferring to Columbus and switching to left tackle. As a redshirt junior, Simmons returned to start on the left side for another year before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

In his time with the Buckeyes, the 22-year-old displayed quickness off the line of scrimmage and impressive balance. While he isn’t much of a bulldozer in the run game, his quickness can help him be effective on pulls. What really shines for Simmons is his pass blocking abilities, which were good enough to put him in serious consideration for OT1 honors in the draft class, before he experienced his injury setback.

He won’t be a project because he needs to develop, he’ll potentially be a project because his road back to 100 full health may be a bit of a journey. The injury led him to be the fifth tackle taken in the draft and the eighth offensive lineman taken. If it was poor play that led to his slide, he may have slipped out of the first round altogether. Because of his injury, though, any team that drafted him was likely going to want to use a first-round pick on him so that the fifth-year option would give them a bit of additional time to evaluate his prospects for a second NFL contract.

In Kansas City last year, starting tackles Jawaan Taylor and Wanya Morris were anything but impressive. For competition, the team has last year’s second-round pick, Kingsley Suamataia, and free agent signing Jaylon Moore to work with, as well. Suamataia started the first two games for the Chiefs at right tackle last year before being benched for Morris, while Moore finished the last portion of 2024 filling in for Trent Williams as the 49ers’ starting left tackle.

In an ideal situation, it would be asking a lot of Simmons to jump into a competition that could see any combination of two of Taylor, Morris, Suamataia, and Moore bookending the line. He falls into a perfect situation, though, where, sure, plenty of question marks remain on the depth chart, but there are plenty of options who can man the spots effectively until Simmons is recovered and ready to compete and contribute. His fifth-year option gives him a bit of breathing room to show his worth before his rookie deal expires.

Simmons is just the first Chiefs rookie to sign their contract. The team has six more players from their draft class that still need to ink their deals.

AFC West Rumors: Chiefs, Chargers, Miller

May 1st, 2025 at 12:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Chiefs took a gamble on injured tackle Josh Simmons, who saw a patellar tendon tear ding his draft stock a bit. The Ohio State standout went down six games into the season, and some debate existed going into the draft about his availability for the season. Simmons said (via The Athletic’s Mike Jones) a July return point, potentially in time for training camp, is expected. The Chiefs have doubled up on tackles this offseason, adding Simmons after giving Jaylon Moore a two-year, $30MM deal in the early hours of the legal tampering period. Kansas City, which used four LT starters last season before its makeshift setup unraveled in the Super Bowl, has seen extensive turnover here since Eric Fisher‘s 2020 AFC championship game injury. If Simmons makes his way to the LT role early, it is worth wondering the team’s Moore plan.

Andy Reid said the Chiefs view Moore as capable of playing multiple O-line positions. Seeing as Moore has never played a guard snap in the NFL, this would mean those positions are LT and RT. Jawaan Taylor has underwhelmed at RT, becoming known for penalties and a phantom start that could draw more. The Chiefs guaranteed Taylor’s $20MM 2025 compensation in 2024, but Moore could potentially compete with the free agency miss this offseason. For now, Moore appears to be a Chiefs stopgap at left tackle.

Here is the latest from the AFC West:

Chiefs Select T Josh Simmons At No. 32

April 24th, 2025 at 10:45pm CST by Adam La Rose

To no surprise, the Chiefs have looked at the offensive tackle spot to close out the first round of the draft. Ohio State’s Josh Simmons is headed to Kansas City. With Simmons on the roster, the team now has plenty of bodies to work with on the line, if they can just figure out the right combination.

It’s a good thing the Chiefs have so many bodies, too, since Simmons could be a bit of a project in the NFL. After a redshirt season at San Diego State, Simmons started a season at right tackle before transferring to Columbus and switching to left tackle. As a redshirt junior, Simmons returned to start on the left side before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Still, the 22-year-old has displayed quickness off the line of scrimmage and impressive balance in his time as a starter.

Last year’s starting tackles for the Chiefs, Jawaan Taylor and Wanya Morris, were anything but impressive in 2024. The team still has last year’s second-round pick, Kingsley Suamataia, and free agent signing Jaylon Moore to work with, but plenty of question marks remain on the depth chart. Luckily, enough of those players can man the offensive line effectively until Simmons is recovered and ready to contribute.

Simmons certainly holds the potential to act as an improvement at tackle in Kansas City, but most of his impact in 2025 will depend on his injury outlook. If Simmons can recover quickly, he stands a chance of making a significant impact in the coming year. If not, the Chiefs will hope he can contribute in the near future.

Ely Allen contributed to this post.

Teams Aren’t Concerned About Ohio State OT Josh Simmons’ Knee

April 24th, 2025 at 11:14am CST by Nikhil Mehta

Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons is widely considered to be a first-round talent, but a torn patellar tendon suffered last October has raised questions about his availability for the 2025 NFL season.

Most teams are already convinced of his talent and have been more focused on his knee during the pre-draft process. Multiple reports in March indicated that Simmons is “ahead of schedule” in his rehab; he even did a brief workout at Ohio State’s pro day.

Recent reports project growing confidence about Simmons’ knee, which has moved him up last-minute mock drafts.

“Teams don’t sound concerned about his long-term availability, as they anticipate he’ll be ready around the start of the regular season,” wrote The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, who mocked Simmons to the Bears with the 10th overall pick. Howe also mentioned some concerns about the 22-year-old’s maturity and passion for the game, but emphasized that he has the long-term upside to be a first-round pick.

Simmons was also projected to the Dolphins at No. 13 by CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones after medical rechecks cleared his knee.

However, the initial severity of Simmons’ injury has caused some doubt that he will be ready to play by the start of the regular season, according to Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline, who believes that November may be a more realistic timeframe for his return to the field.

Simmons’ draft slot will reveal how teams really feel about his knee. A top-15 pick would indicate confidence that he can contribute in 2025, while slipping to the end of the first round (or out of Day 1 entirely) will hint at a potential redshirt rookie year.

NFL Announces 17 Prospects Attending NFL Draft

April 14th, 2025 at 6:30pm CST by Ben Levine

There will be 17 draft prospects waiting in the green room to hear their name announced next week. The NFL announced the players who will attend the first round next Thursday night in Green Bay:

When players commit to attending the first round of the draft, their respective camps have often been given some kind of assurance that they’ll be selected within the top-32 picks. Of course, that’s not a prerequisite, and as we’ve seen many times, there are some overly-confident prospects who subsequently endure the very-public waiting game.

Per usual, the most notable inclusions surround the QB position. Cam Ward is the favorite to go first-overall, and Shedeur Sanders (who is absent from this list) is also expected to be selected at some point in the first round. After that, the position is pretty uncertain, and that could lead to some awkward moments for the other QBs who decided to attend.

Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe have firmly established themselves in that next tier of QB prospects, and recent reports have indicated that they should be at least Day 2 picks. There haven’t been any definitive reports about their Day 1 candidacy, and while we shouldn’t read too much into the list of attendees, it is notable that both prospects believe they have a shot of going in the top-32 selections.

2025 NFL Draft Visits: Williams, Simmons, Texans

April 10th, 2025 at 10:12pm CST by Ely Allen

The 2025 NFL Draft class is fairly deep at the defensive tackle position. One player contributing to that depth is Ohio State’s Tyleik Williams. Williams has gotten a ton of attention lately. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, Williams visited the Texans today after recent visits with the Eagles, Bills, and Packers.

Part of this year’s championship-winning Buckeyes crew, Williams has been a full-time starter in Columbus for the last two seasons. He broke out with his performances in those two years, totaling 18 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks over that time.

Because Williams is not expected to be a top 10 pick, his interest is coming from all over the NFL, both from teams who could select him in the late-first or early-second round. Per Wilson, he has upcoming visits with the 49ers, Ravens, and Lions on his schedule.

Here are a few other reported visits from around the NFL:

  • A teammate of Williams’ on the other side of the ball, offensive tackle Josh Simmons is also a fringe first-round prospect. After starting all 13 games for the Aztecs of San Diego State as a true freshman, Simmons transferred to Ohio State where he immediately became a full-time starter at right tackle. In 2023, he switched over to the blindside, where he started every game until missing half his senior season with a torn patellar tendon. The injury hasn’t stopped teams from being interested, though. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Simmons visited with the Packers on Monday and the Ravens on Tuesday. Schefter adds that he met with the Colts today and will see the Chiefs tomorrow.
  • One team that could see Simmons in the future is the Texans, who have been doing plenty of research on offensive linemen after seeing some changes to their starting lineup for 2025. The team hosted North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel today, per Wilson. Zabel had experience playing for the Bison at all four tackle and guard spots but is widely seen as one of the top center prospects in the class, a position at which Houston would welcome an upgrade with open arms. The team also hosted fringe first-round prospect Aireontae Ersery out of Minnesota. Playing left tackle for the Golden Gophers, Ersery could be a potential tackle of the future to step in after Cam Robinson or Trent Brown.

OL Draft Notes: Campbell, Simmons, 49ers

March 26th, 2025 at 4:06pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

Projected first-round pick Will Campbell measured in with 33-inch arms at LSU’s Pro Day, per ESPN’s Field Yates, an increase over his measurement at the NFL Combine.

His arm length was measured at 32.675 inches in Indianapolis, according to The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, three-eighths of an inch below the league’s general standard of 33-inch arms for offensive tackles. Curiously, Campbell’s measured wingspan at the Combine (72.375 inches) was longer than his wingspan at his Pro Day (72.25 inches). Both figures are below-average figures for pro tackles.

Typically, college tackles with shorter arms are encouraged to move inside to guard or center to avoid constant matchups with long, powerful NFL edge rushers. The same concerns have been raised about Campbell in the pre-draft process, though he put together multiple years of elite tape at LSU while playing left tackle.

Campbell responded to concerns about his arm length at his pro day, refuting the idea that below-average arm length would limit him in the pros.

“For two years, nobody had any measurements on me and nobody said anything about my play,” said Campbell (via Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football). “So now all of a sudden, an arm length decides if I’m a good player or not?”

Campbell has consistently been ranked as a top-10 overall prospect and is expected to be the first offensive lineman drafted in April, though his exact landing spot may depend on which teams see him as an offensive tackle.

  • Some NFL teams see Campbell as a guard, per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. All of his elite traits – particularly his athleticism and technique – will translate to guard, but teams are less likely to use a top-10 pick on a less-valued position. (The last guard taken in the first 10 picks was Quenton Nelson in 2018.) Teams that project Campbell to stay at tackle will value him higher. In short, if Campbell is drafted in the top 10 as expected, it will likely come with the expectation that he will play tackle in the pros.
  • Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a torn patellar tendon suffered in October, according to Ian Rapoport and Stacey Dales of NFL Network. The injury was originally expected to threaten Simmons’ availability for the 2025 season, but he is now expected to be at 100% before the draft. Simmons’ reparative surgery included a “double graft” to make his patellar tendon “extra strong,” per Dales, and he has impressed doctors with his progress in rehab. He did a brief workout at Ohio State’s pro day, including 33 reps on the bench press, which would have tied him for the most of any player at this year’s Combine. Simmons’ injury could have knocked him out of first-round consideration, but his speedy recovery should shore up his stock and give him a strong chance to be selected on Day 1 of April’s draft as a solid blocker with experience at both tackle spots.
  • The 49ers are among the teams who are expected to target offensive linemen early in the draft, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. Trent Williams missed the team’s last seven games of the season due to a lower leg injury, and future absences remain a risk for the 37-year-old left tackle. 49ers general manager John Lynch indicated at the Combine that the team was looking closely at the 2025 OL draft class, but he hasn’t spent a first-round pick on an offensive lineman since Mike McGlinchey, the ninth overall pick in 2018. This year, several of the draft’s top offensive linemen should be available to the 49ers at the 11th overall pick.

Ohio State T Josh Simmons Declares For 2025 Draft

December 4th, 2024 at 8:04pm CST by Ben Levine

One of the 2025 draft’s top offensive tackle prospects has officially declared. Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons is heading to the NFL for the 2025 campaign, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

[RELATED: LSU T Will Campbell Declares For 2025 Draft]

Simmons was once in contention to be the first lineman off the board in 2025. However, the prospect suffered a knee injury in October that ended his season prematurely, with Albert Breer of SI.com revealing that Simmons suffered a torn patellar tendon. The player later underwent surgery and should be back on the field this summer.

“Josh will be fully cleared for practice by the start of NFL training camp and he will be a high first-round pick,” his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN.

Per Schefter, Simmons is “already ahead of schedule” with his rehab. Breer notes that the lineman was operated on by Rams’ team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache, and the reporter adds that it’s a “tough rehab” to overcome. Fortunately, the intended schedule should see Simmons fully recovered in time for training camp.

After two years at San Diego State, Simmons transferred to Ohio State and flourished under OL coach Justin Frye. The prospect was lauded for his agility, good hands, awareness, and elite strength during his one-plus seasons in Columbus, with the only knock surrounding the quality of his competition.

Thanks to the injury, Simmons will now have an uphill battle to be the first OL off the board. That title will likely go to LSU OT Will Campbell or Texas OT Kelvin Banks Jr., but the Buckeye could battle the likes of LSU’s Emery Jones and Minnesota’s Aireontae Ersery to be OT3.

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