By MATT PIKE
After being a limited participant in practice last week, appearing as if he was on a path to return, the Kansas City Chiefs placed left tackle Josh Simmons on injured reserve Thursday.
Simmons participated in three practices last week, prior to the matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, but heading into this week Simmons still felt pain in his back and left leg, the same leg he had previously suffered a torn patellar tendon in back in October 2024 while playing for Ohio State. Simmons did not practice on Wednesday, and on Thursday Head trainer Rick Burkholder shared that Simmons reported feeling discomfort in his left calf following a training camp practice in St. Joseph, prompting the team to order an MRI, which revealed a "bulging, herniated" disk.
"That disk problem was higher up than what we normally see in most of our offensive linemen, which complicated the case," Burkholder said of Simmons during his press conference. "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."
Burkholder explained that Simmons took the Wednesday afternoon off to discuss the next steps of his treatment with his family and his representative, which led to a personal designation along with the back injury on the Chiefs injury report. Burkholder says "everybody" agreed that Simmons needed to be placed on injured reserve, a move that will force the lineman to miss at least the next four games, meaning the earliest Simmons can return is Week 11, when the Chiefs host the Arizona Cardinals.
"I give a lot of credit to Josh, my physicians and my staff for navigating through this injury to the point where surgery is not recommended," Burkholder added. "He just needs more time to return to full function."
Since selecting Simmons in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft, the Chiefs have played more games without him than with him. The last time Simmons played was last year on Thanksgiving Day, when the team fell to the Dallas Cowboy, and during that game, Simmons suffered a dislocated and fractured left wrist, a season-ending injury that required surgery.
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