Arrowhead Pride
After Kansas City’s ninth training camp practice, the head coach talked linemen.
Coming off their blowout Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs made it a priority to bolster the offensive line this offseason.
General manager Brett Veach did so by first signing former San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Jaylon Moore and then drafting Ohio State’s Josh Simmons with the No. 32 overall pick.
A week into camp... well, so far, so good.
Simmons has taken every rep at the starting left tackle position, while Moore has rotated with Kingsley Suamataia at left guard and Jawaan Taylor at right tackle. In the Super Bowl, the Chiefs seemed to be out of viable starters. Right now, it feels like they have one too many.
It’s rare for the spotlight of an NFL training camp to surround a single offensive lineman, but there is no doubt that Simmons is getting all the attention in St. Joseph.
“He’s getting a lot of reps, which I think is important for a rookie,” said Reid of Simmons on Friday. “So he’s been in there and consistently showing up every day and working and not taking plays off or any of that. He’s a worker. He’s willing to do it. It’s just a matter of, ‘You gotta keep on going.’ But he’s done a nice job with what we’ve asked him. He’s working on all the fundamentals and techniques, so that’s a challenge for him.”
Simmons silenced many doubters when he progressed enough in his injury rehab to be a full, healthy participant during organized team activities (OTAs) — and now, training camp. Only 10 months removed from a torn patellar tendon, Simmons says the bulk of the rehab is done; he and Kansas City’s training staff have shifted their focus to maintenance work.
Rather than returning home to San Diego (or spending time at Ohio State) during the break between OTAs and training camp, Simmons stayed in Kansas City to keep his momentum going.
“They know my body,” he explained. “I didn’t want to go somewhere else, and then they have to kind of re-figure out my body — figure out, oh, how does this work? Is he quick with stuff like that? They know everything. They pass it down to them, so I put my trust in them.”
With the injury behind him, Simmons is playing freely while learning from line coach Andy Heck and Bill Walsh minority-coaching fellow Juan Castillo.
“They put like a plethora of just different pass sets, different hand movements into my toolbox,” noted Simmons. “So it’s like the best resource any rookie can have — just having that in your back pocket. Asking after a pass rush, ‘What did I do wrong here? How can I fix it?’ And then go to the next rep and then make those corrections. It’s amazing.”
Simmons says his greatest challenge right now is understanding defenses, and there may be no better adversaries to train against than defensive...
