Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Josh Simmons was placed on injured reserve on Thursday because of a back injury. As it would turn out, there is a lot more to the story.
Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes told the second-year tackle out of Ohio State to leave a team meeting just one day prior.
This latest NFL drama serves as a classic case of what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did his back injury lead to his dismissal or did his dismissal lead to the back injury? It sounds like a little bit of both. The truth likely falls somewhere in the middle.
Josh Simmons was placed on Injured Reserve with a back injury.
Selected No. 32 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Josh Simmons played in only nine games as a rookie. He recovered from a dislocated and fractured wrist during the offseason and made his return to the Kansas City Chiefs during training camp.
Unfortunately, it did not take long for a separate injury to cause him problems. Simmons suffered a torn patellar tendon while playing for Ohio State in October 2024. Those symptoms continue to linger. He is also dealing with a bulging, herniated disk in his lower back.
Head trainer Rick Burkholder said on Thursday that Simmons reported discomfort in his left calf after a training camp practice on Aug. 17. The team ordered an MRI, which revealed the back issue.
“”That disk problem was higher up than what we normally see in most of our offensive linemen, which complicated the case. The repeat MRI, a few weeks later, showed that the disk had improved, so no surgery was recommended. Josh worked his tail off. He worked diligently with my staff every day. However, we feel he has plateaued in the rehab process. He’s just not there yet.”
Simmons tried to practice last week. It didn’t go as he or the team had hoped.
According to Burkholder, “everybody” agreed that Simmons needed to be placed on injured reserve. They are still trying to figure out how and where he will continue his rehab. He cannot return to the field until Week 11. The decision to go on IR was made by the coaching staff, the training staff, Simmons, Simmons’ family and Simmons’ representation.
Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes kicked him out of a meeting.
The injury reserve saga felt weird from the beginning. Former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz agreed.
“This whole thing doesn’t pass the smell test, yet again. You don’t do that on a Wednesday coming off a “ramp up” week where you practice every day and the wording has been that he’s going to continue that process. I do not know anything but this screams of the team expecting him to be practicing, him saying he’s not healthy, and then a big back and forth between the two sides.”
He later doubled down in response to online criticism of his initial suspicion.
“I do not know anything that’s transpired in the last 48 hours but I DO know how injuries work and how the reporting of them works. I know how this staff words things. And I know what’s gone on previously. You’re out here thinking that one statement given by the head trainer after they’ve told us nothing perfectly explains everything that’s happened for the last two months and we’re not supposed to question anything? Get out of here. This is the part where former players cannot stand being told stuff like this. This is quite literally the thing we know best, and our intuition and reading of the situation is far better than anyone else trying to figure out what’s really happening.”
As it would turn out, Schwartz was right. Mike Garafolo reported on Sunday morning that Josh Simmons was told by both Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to leave a team meeting on Wednesday.
As the story goes, Reid asked Simmons to put his feet down in the team meeting room. The latter pushed back on the former by telling him he had to sit that way because his back and hips hurt. The head coach told his offensive lineman to get treatment from the athletic trainers if he was in so much pain to where he had to sit with his feet up. They went back and forth for a moment.
At that point, Mahomes stood up and told Simmons to leave the room to go get treatment so he left.
Simmons later apologized to Reid and to team leaders. And then he was placed on injured reserve on Thursday.