The Kansas City Chiefs took a risk with the first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, selecting Ohio State LT Josh Simmons at pick No. 32.
Simmons missed most of the 2024 college football season at Ohio State with a knee injury he sustained in October. Based on his play in 2023, he had all the makings of a top-10 draft pick. The progress made in 2024, one hurry in just over 150 pass-blocking snaps, was also telling. Injury stole
“Josh (Simmons), we felt, is a phenomenal athlete,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid told reporters after Round 1. “He would’ve been a higher pick if he hadn’t been hurt. Rick Burkholder has done a bunch of work on him. And he’s in a good place. He had a patellar tendon injury to his left knee, and it has healed well. He’s gone through all the rechecks that he’s been required to do, and we’ll just see where it goes from there.”
The Chiefs and their athletic training staff have some experience with this particular injury, which is one reason they were confident he’d be able to make a full recovery and contribute.
“So when you talk ACLs, you talk patellar tendon surgeries. ACLs normally take about nine months. Patellar tendons normally take about six months. It’s the same risk, though, that you’re looking at there, and we’ve had success with patellar tendons going back as far as (former Eagles RB) Correll Buckhalter and his injury. So, he was able to come back and play as a running back. So, Rick’s got a pretty good feel on that. Our docs have a good feel on it. And we thought his looked like it was a good surgery. He’s gotta get out and play football, too. So, we’ll see from there. But where we’re sitting, the experts would tell you that it looks good.”
The pre-draft process, however, was a meticulous one. The Chiefs met with Simmons for a formal meeting at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. They also saw the progress he made at his Ohio State Pro Day.
Later, the team opted to bring him in for a top 30 visit, just to be safe and recheck the injury one last time at their own facilities. They even had some last-minute pre-draft Zooms with him this week.
“It’s not until they get to the combine that you get the concrete medical information they need,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach said. “When we got back from the combine, everyone knew about the patella tendon injury. And those injuries are obviously serious with a 6-7 month recovery. I do remember saying early on, ‘This knee looks really good and he had a really good surgery. We really like the way it looks. Would it helps if we brought him in just a few weeks later to get an update on that?’ You guys may have seen some of the tape out there, he did do some stuff at the pro day. It was more stretching and some sets. But Rick (Burkholder) said, ‘Really, for that injury, for that guy to be already at that stage, he was well ahead of where he should be. Does it mean he’ll be out there full tilt for OTAs? I think we’ll be smart with it.”
When will new Chiefs LT Josh Simmons be ready to play?
The question now becomes, how long will it take Simmons to get back on the football field and play? The Chiefs can proceed cautiously, given that they signed former 49ers LT Jaylon Moore in free agency. The team has yet to decide how much, if at all, he’ll participate in the rookie minicamp coming up after the 2025 NFL Draft.
“Whether he does rookie minicamp or not, we’ll just see what he can do when he gets here,” Reid said. “But he’s done well. Those are normally six-month or so injuries, and he’s right about that time out from being injured.”
