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Josh Simmons of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The mystery around the absence of Kansas City Chiefs rookie offensive lineman Josh Simmons only grew more mysterious on Thursday when the 2025 first-round draft pick out of Ohio State remained missing from practice for another day, according to the team.

Also on Thursday, a longtime Chiefs insider who covers the team for ESPN, while offering no details or specifics, described the Simmons situation as “extremely serious” and “a family matter.”

The insider, Nate Taylor, said that he was “fearful” about whatever was causing Simmons absence.

On Wednesday, Taylor reported that Simmons had returned to California, and that “he left at a time on Sunday that is extremely unusual. I’m not sure when he’s coming back and as of right now the team doesn’t know when he’s coming back.”

Reid, Players Stay Mum on Simmons Mystery

Coach Andy Reid and Simmons’ teammates have all declined to offer any public comments on Simmons’ situation, beyond expressing sympathy with the 22-year-old from San Diego, California. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes told reporters on Wednesday that any knowledge he had of the specifics behind Simmons’ absence would remain “private,” but added that he would be “praying for” his apparently troubled teammate.

Reid also indicted that there was no timetable for Simmons’ return to the team.

Reid told reporters that he was “not going to comment on” Simmons’ situation, adding that Chiefs general manager Brett Veach “is handling everything there. And we’ll leave it at that.”

Shifting Stories on Official Injury Report

Simmons was listed as “questionable” on the Chiefs’ injury report prior to the defending AFC champions’ Sunday night game against the Detroit Lions. About two hours before kickoff, his status was downgraded to “out,” but in a release the Chiefs said that Simmons absence from the game was not injury related, but “personal.”

Simmons played in all five of the Chiefs games this season prior to Sunday, and did not miss a game in three seasons at Ohio State until 2024 when he suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee. The knee injury ended his season after six games.

In an interview on Kansas City radio station 96.5 The Fan on Thursday, Taylor said rather cryptically of Simmons that “his blip on the injury report hours before kickoff in the stadium in Jacksonville is related to what he’s dealing with now.”

In Week Five, the Chiefs played a road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, losing that contest 31-28. The “blip” referred to by Taylor appears to be the fact that Simmons was a late addition to the Kansas City injury report, just hours before kickoff in Jacksonville, due to what was listed as an “illness.”

Insider Says He is ‘Fearful’ Over Situation

“I’m fearful because we don’t have all the answers right now, and that makes the outcome perhaps grim,” Taylor said in the radio interview. “I can’t imagine what he’s going through, based on what I’ve heard.”

Taylor also said that fans should understand that “this is really difficult for Josh,” but that no one should question that Simmons “loves football” and the situation is not an indicator that he “doesn’t care about his teammates.”

“This is extremely serious and if it gets resolved, who knows, a month from now, he could be back on the field,” Taylor said. “If he has a chance to get back to normalcy and get back to football, he will do that.”

Taylor did not specify whether, based on the information he had received, the Chiefs’ initial report of an “illness” for Simmons was accurate, or whether the word was being used by the team as a euphemism for whatever the actual problem being experienced by Simmons may be.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin