After living in the limbo of Josh Simmons' will-he-or-won't-he-play status for nearly a half season, the Kansas City Chiefs have decided to bring some clarity to the picture. The Chiefs are officially placing Simmons on injured reserve with a back injury as Week 7 approaches.
Simmons has been out with a bulging disc problem in his back since August 18, near the very end of the team's training camp schedule in St. Joseph. Simmons went on to miss the final two preseason exhibitions in the hope of being ready for the Chiefs' season-opener versus the Denver Broncos.
From there, however, Simmons' situation remained far murkier than expected. What Andy Reid originally seemed to shrug off as a minor preseason concern turned into a lingering injury that kept him from making any appearances before the team's scheduled bye in Week 5. In that time, Reid explained that Simmons was seeking another opinion about the right approach to recovery.
Coming out of the bye, Reid then explained that the Chiefs were going to need to ease Simmons back into practice—and for a while, he did. Simmons was a limited participant in practice before Week 6's win over the L.A. Chargers, which offered some optimism that the team's former first-round choice (2025) might be ready to take back over on the left side of the offensive front. Alas, that's not the case
Simmons already missed practice on Wednesday, and the Chiefs added a designation to the injury report: "NIR". That means "non-injury related" even as Simmons' entry also still pointed to a back problem.
The full explanation from the Chiefs on Josh Simmons
The Chiefs allowed Rick Burkholder, the team's Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance, to open their Thursday press conference to explain Simmons' injury in greater detail.
"On August 17, Josh came to me with calf discomfort and feeling that he couldn’t post on a single leg in training camp practices. This was the same leg that he had knee surgery on in 2024. He was evaluated by our physicians, who thankfully suspected a low back injury instead of a lower leg or knee ailment. So we obtained an MRI in St. Joe that confirmed that he had a bulging herniated disc in his lumbar spine.
"That disc problem was higher up than what we normally see in our offensive linemen, which complicated the case. We recommended a second opinion, as we always do with all of our injured guys, and through his agent and Josh, they selected a spine specialist in California that we have used previously and that is really well known in the NFL.
"He went there, was evaluated, and the recommendation was to do rehabilitation and not surgery, with the intent that we would do an MRI in the near future to see what that disc looked like. So Josh continued to progress, and the repeat MRI a few weeks later showed that the disc had improved, so no surgery was recommended, and rehab would continue.
"Throughout this process, we’ve had frequent communication with the second opinion, with Josh, with our doctors, and with his agent. Josh worked his tail off. He worked diligently with my staff every day and has improved to the point that where he returned to practice in a limited capacity last week. However, we feel that he’s plateaued in the rehab process as he’s trying to get to the final steps of recovery with return to competition, and he’s just not there yet. After discussion with Josh yesterday, we gave him some time to talk to his family and representatives to investigate next steps as he goes through this process, and that’s why he was listed yesterday as both personal and with the back injury. He took the day off to get with his people.
"It was decided and agreed upon by everybody — his people, his agent, him, myself, Andy, Veach — that he should be placed on IR to give him more time to return to full function. He’ll continue with the rehab process with the goal of returning to play at the high level that he achieved in the past. I give a lot of credit to Josh, my docs, my physicians, and my staff — I just give them a ton of credit for navigating through this injury to the point where surgery is not recommended, and that he just needs more time to return to full function. I hope that sheds some light on the situation, and I appreciate you guys always."
What it means for Simmons to land on IR
The Chiefs are in the midst of preparing for a game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football, and they're doing so without their right tackle. Jaylon Moore was taken out of the Chiefs' win over the Chargers with a head injury and was later placed in the team's concussion protocol. He wasn't back at practice to start the week and it's likely that the Chiefs could go into Sunday's game without either of their starters.
What this means for the position of left tackle is that Kahlil Benson can settle in for good. The undrafted rookie has already blossomed at the position, turning in a solid performance after having never played the left side in college. Benson ascended the depth chart from rookie tryout in May to Week 1 starter in September. Now the joh is his for the foreseeable future.
As for what this means beyond Week 7 is anyone's guess, but the earliest Simmons could return is Week 11, a home game against the Arizona Cardinals. Andy Reid emphasized the unpredictable nature of back injuries while trying to explain things to reporters over the last few weeks. Perhaps an IR stint gives him a chance to seek long-term recovery instead of trying to push things to make it back week to week—assuming that's all that's wrong.
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