Of all of the prospects mocked to the Kansas City Chiefs over the last several weeks and months, Ohio State tackle Josh Simmons is likely the most common name linked to the team's selection at No. 31 overall in the first round. Some pre-draft concerns about Simmons, however, are raising questions about where exactly he might fall.
There's no doubt that Simmons looks like one of the best left tackles on tape out of this entire draft class. However, a torn patellar injury suffered in 2024 muddies the picture for his ceiling going forward. Just how much will it affect him as he makes the leap to the NFL?
The Chiefs already had an official visit with Simmons before the draft.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently broke down the latest offensive tackle rumors, as he hears them, as draft week gets underway. The results aren't all that promising overall, especially for Simmons.
"Talking to people over the last couple of weeks is that the two guys that are the most natural left tackles in the class are probably Kelvin Banks from Texas, who had some really bad tape against Georgia, but 100% fits—like he's a left tackle, you know?—and then Josh Simmons from Ohio State, who had a really bad injury, way worse than an ACL. That's a patella tendon. It's a bad injury for a big man." said Breer.
The pre-draft rumors about Josh Simmons aren't good at all for his perceived stock.
Simmons first went down with the torn patellar tendon in mid-October in a game against Oregon. Given his recovery timeline, he recently underwent further tests in Indianapolis to provide NFL teams with an update on his progress, and Breer didn't have such good news on that front either. "[Simmons] had his medical recheck, which I heard was a little sketchy, last weekend in Indianapolis."
Not only does Simmons face the medical questions heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, but the latest draft rumors brought up character concerns as well. "Plus there's a character issue with him where he's another one of these guys ... he's from a rough background, so there's a life skills question with him. Like you're going to have to kind of hold his hand a little bit."
It's important to remember that so much of what is "leaked" before an NFL Draft is intended to create noise or generate smoke in order to mislead or cast doubts in one direction or another. If a team like the Chiefs are hungry for someone like Simmons to fall to them at the bottom of the first round, then they need other teams to think there are bigger questions than there really are.
What the Chiefs and other teams really think of Simmons will be revealed on Thursday when the draft kicks off. Until then, we can only wait and wonder if the rumors about Simmons are true or just a play of pre-draft posturing.