Jeffery Simmons injury will drop him into Chiefs range at NFL Draft

The Kansas City Chiefs had little reason to believe Jeffery Simmons would be available when they select in the NFL Draft until now.

Jeffery Simmons was a best-case scenario for the Kansas City Chiefs just a few days ago. Despite an assault on his record from a few years ago as a teenager, Jeffery Simmons’ stock as a dynamic defensive lineman was still soaring high enough that the idea of grabbing him where the Chiefs sit at No. 29 overall was not a plausible scenario to consider.

Sure, the Chiefs might have talked through every single what if, but it’s hard to imagine the team spending considerable time on a player like Simmons when thinking through initial draft options, in much the same way that Nick Bosa, Josh Allen, Quinnen Williams, and Jonah Williams are expected to be gone early in the 2019 NFL Draft.

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While the Chiefs can obviously trade up for any number of excellent prospects and they need to be prepared for any and all scenarios, the reality of Simmons in a Chiefs uniform was a stretch no one would have predicted—that is, until news broke on Tuesday saying that he’d torn his ACL. Suddenly Simmons’ stock was in a freefall.

NFL draft analysts aren’t going to be able to tell for sure just how far he will fall, but the general consensus is that recent cases like Sidney Jones (Eagles cornerback) and Jaylon Smith (Cowboys linebacker) provide recent examples of injured stars dropping to the early-to-mid second round range. Smith was taken atop the second round in 2016, while Jones slipped to No. 43 in 2017.

Given the fact that Simmons is now going to need considerable time to rehabilitate his injury as well as acclimate to the pro level, many teams will likely view 2019 as a redshirt year, so to speak, for the Mississippi State defender.

Few teams can afford to invest a first round pick in a player who won’t be ready for a year, and the Chiefs are likely one of them. The cupboards are incredibly bare in the secondary in particular and the Chiefs lacked a first round pick in last year’s draft already. Can they afford to go two years in a row without adding an instant impact player? It’s a hard sell, to be sure.

That said, what about the second round, in which the Chiefs have two selections thanks to the Marcus Peters deal from last spring with the Rams. Both picks are near the bottom of the draft order but together (or packaged with other picks), the Chiefs do have the ammunition to move up and secure an impact player at his cheapest possible price.

Simmons is a disruptive presence along the defensive line and checks all the boxes for future stardom at the position. Pro Football Focus has him graded as the fourth highest rated interior lineman last year. Adding him to the mix with Chris Jones, Xavier Williams, Derrick Nnadi, Justin Hamilton and Breeland Speak gives the Chiefs one of the youngest and deepest lines in the league—one that could grow together and develop into something elite.

Simmons had 63 total tackles last year, 18 of them for a loss. He also had 2 sacks and 4 passes defended for

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