Josh Simmons was not seen at the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice again Friday, deepening concern over a back injury that has already cost the Chiefs’ 2025 first-round pick two games. Simmons, the No. 32 overall selection out of Ohio State, was expected to lock down Patrick Mahomes‘ blind side after a rookie year interrupted by a personal absence then cut short by injury.
Kansas City has stayed patient rather than placing Simmons on injured reserve, but Sunday’s game against Miami now will mark a third straight absence for Mahomes’ blind-side protector.
“Chiefs head coach Andy Reid confirmed Josh Simmons missed practice. Reid said he’s making progress,” Kansas City Star correspondent Pete Sweeney reported. Reid confirmed that Simmons would not play against Miami.
The injury first flared during training camp in mid-to-late August, and Simmons hasn’t practiced since Aug. 17. According to the team’s official Week 3 injury report, Simmons was a DNP both Wednesday and Thursday, the same designation he carried into Weeks 1 and 2.
“Just getting his back checked out,” coach Andy Reid said back in August. “That’s the main thing. He’s doing good when he’s in there. He’s just got a back. Like any other injury, we’ve got to make sure that it’s right or what’s wrong with it,” Reid said, according to NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk that week.
Simmons has since sought a second opinion from a back specialist as the Chiefs wait for swelling to subside before rebuilding strength in the area.
Kansas City Chiefs’ Josh Simmons Injury Timeline
Simmons has yet to play a snap in 2026, sitting out Kansas City’s first two games. The Chiefs have held off placing Simmons on injured reserve, a move that would lock him out a minimum of four games, signaling hope he returns before the Week 5 bye.
Undrafted rookie Kahlil Benson has started in Simmons’ place both weeks and is expected to draw a third straight start Sunday. One Chiefs insider indicated Simmons could suit up if the situation were an emergency, but Benson’s steady play has given Kansas City no urgency to rush its rookie left tackle back onto the field.
Andy Reid Addresses Josh Simmons Setback
“He is getting better, but he won’t go today,” Reid said Wednesday, confirming Simmons would sit out again as the Chiefs opened preparations for Miami, Reid told reporters this week. “We knew it’d be a couple — two, three, four — games in here, as long as he was making progress,” Reid said days earlier, adding that Simmons is at the facility daily, rehabbing and sitting in meetings while the team waits to see if the swelling in his back has settled.
“This isn’t anything other than him having an issue with his back,” Reid said, insisting the issue is strictly physical, according to a separate NBC Sports report.
That framing hasn’t stopped speculation, given Simmons’ turbulent rookie year, which included a 22-day midseason absence the team called a family matter, followed by a season-ending wrist fracture and dislocation. A source told NBC Sports’ Mike Florio that Simmons is week-to-week with the back injury, adding the situation “conjured memories” of last year’s disappearance, though the source maintained it’s “strictly a physical issue… (For now, at least.)”
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz has said publicly he has “doubts Simmons plays much this season,” while others have floated whether Kansas City needs a longer-term answer at left tackle. Reid and Chiefs beat writers have pushed back hard against the non-injury rumors, noting Simmons remains around the team every single day.
As of Friday morning, Simmons remained sidelined, with an official Sunday designation still to come.
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