*****The Josh Simmons Thread*****

[Dante84]

More to come!

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— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) April 25, 2025

Several teams agree: Josh Simmons had best tape of any OT last year. And they aren't very concerned with recovery on the torn patella tendon. More of the concern is maturity/character. But he's going to the ideal, veteran-laden place.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 25, 2025

the #chiefs get LT Josh Simmons out of Ohio State. If Simmons didn't suffer a torn patellar tendon he would have been the first tackle off the board. I had one team tell me he was the most athletic and talented tackle tape they watched. There are some maturity issues, but this…

— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) April 25, 2025

The #Chiefs have selected #OSU OT Josh Simmons at No. 32, a player recovering nicely from a torn patellar tendon. They are comfortable with his rehab and did endless homework on it. https://t.co/awdb0JhPed

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 25, 2025

The #Chiefs are selecting Ohio State LT Josh Simmons at No. 32 to close out Round 1.

A key addition to bolster the offensive line in front of Patrick Mahomes. pic.twitter.com/oBx2CjzmCe

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 25, 2025

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by O.city

So I'm reading it was a partial tear of the patella tendon....can anyone clarify?

His knee broke apart midair.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by nicksdad

The problem is that we can’t absorb ceh , fau, skyy etc . Picks like these are why the eagles total roster is so much better than ours . In two of the last three SBs we got our bent over by teams with better rosters . Having the best QB only does so much . Looms roster top to bottom also better than ours if 3/4 of their D isn’t on the IL .

The misses add up, yeah.

Truly, what they do, is they make you go into FA. More and more often. And FA yields diminishing returns.

A missed 1st, or 2 or even 3 don't have direct, immediate catastrophic impacts to your roster. But they start to put you in binds on the cap because of what you have to do in FA to make up for them. And as our 2022 class gets more expensive, that's going to get harder and harder to do.

So you have to start nailing FA. And maybe that's exactly what will happen. But it starts to close off avenues and like I said, just makes your margins for error smaller and smaller and smaller.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

Burkholder has 30+ years experience doing this… and has actually seen Simmon’s injury/recovery up close.

That informed insight vs people here whose “knowledge” of the patellar tendon is what they have read on Wikipedia.

Yeah, gives me a bit of hope that Veach insinuated Burkholder had the same initial reaction that a ton of folks here did and only after a bunch of due diligence assumedly gave his blessing.

Just have to hope it was justified and they aren't YOLOing this in a desperation bid to solve LT long term.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

Plenty of folks here disagree with the pick. Speaking like it's already a foregone conclusion that the pick is a failure, Simmons will never be a good player, and Veach is a ****ing idiot that will only be vindicated if the Chiefs get lucky is where I'm kind of taking pause.

I think even the biggest critic would like to see this be a ten year answer at LT.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

Burkholder has 30+ years experience doing this… and has actually seen Simmon’s injury/recovery up close.

That informed insight vs people here whose “knowledge” of the patellar tendon is what they have read on Wikipedia.

The irony of YOU of all people citing the 'wisdom of the experts' ought not be lost on you.

What do you think about that Fauci fell, Eh Florida?

I'll tolerate that particular bullshit argument from some folks. You, good sir, are one person on this entire board with absolutely no standing to make it.

[Shields68]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Also remember the complaint we've had about Draft Grades for years, though.

They love the picks when they're right.

Draft Grades are nothing more than "How close to MY board were you..."

Gets back to McDuffie getting a C grade because draft twitter thought we'd take Johnson and decided Spags doesn't like smaller corners. It's an exercise in confirmation bias.

And about half of Chiefs Twitter had the nature of his injury wrong. I mean I haven't expected Locked On to get anything right for years - they didn't. Nate Taylor had it COMPLETELY wrong until bout 2-3 weeks ago. But by then, their minds had been made up.

And then it became their exercise in confirmation bias.

So yeah - if they're going to blow by the only concern that those of us opposed to the pick had because they didn't understand WHY we were opposed to the pick...um...okay.

But I think ultimately Reid might have made the point that A) explains why so many draft folks were on this and B) why I'm no less nervous.



They went into the draft with a focus on a single position group in the first round. And nobody expected Campbell, Banks or Membou to fall. Nor were were guys like Ersery first round possibilities (and by all accounts, Jackson is a guard).

So that really did leave them with Conerly and Simmons. So yeah, I suspect they did a shitload of homework on BOTH those guys.

But I do think this is where they've gotten themselves in the most trouble. They did it with Speaks. They did it with Moore. They did it with FAU. Granted, I don't think that's what happened with MEH and that still didn't work out. But the majority of their worst picks have been picks made based on a pre-determined decision to attack a specific position at a specific spot.

When you do that, you're just so very prone to seeing what you wanna see. And I just don't know how folks can be so eager to just dismiss that.

I am not sure it was totally a decision to attack the position group. I think a number guys were in play. But ultimately the thinking is the 1st round DT DB's we liked are gone, we can get an edge and RB later. Really came down to him or Burden. If he has 15% chance to be back to all pro and never addressing LT as long as Pat's a pro, 35% to give us average LT for 4 years it is worth the pick. Not sure there was a totslly safe pick and definately not a pick with as high upside at a coveted position.

I also believe that post surgery they believe he is doing better then expected. But they know it is a high risk high reward pick.

[Sassy Squatch]

We gonna get the Josh Simmons thread sent to DC.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

I totally agree with all of this. But I also think you can flip this view around and it argues for this exact pick.

Veach likely isn't going to recreate the 2022 draft outcome again. That was a master class. So rather than assuming that all the picks are going to be contributors and that the balance of the class will be its saving grace, you're going to need to find some blue chip talent along the way to make up for the inevitable misses. And when picking in the 30s, you're going to have to take some swings on guys that are high ceiling/low floor prospects.

And here we are with Simmons.

C'mon - you know how I view these picks.

Every single one of them is nothing more than a review of their respective ceilings and floors. I'd say 8 of 10 'reviews' I do on ANY of these guys focus specifically on the ceiling and the floor.

And on this particular prospect I've even said that the only way I could see the Chiefs taking him is if they think the ceiling is adequately high enough to justify a floor of, effectively, zero.

I'd have said that they do until I read Reid's quote saying they wanted to take an OT in the first round.

Now my worry is that they just didn't consider the floor because they were so focused on the position group. And that sort of approach just so very very rarely works out.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

We gonna get the Josh Simmons thread sent to DC.

Yeah - I'm done on that point and am fine with the Mods tossing that post.

But the **** if I'm gonna listen to FloridaMan say "This medical expert has been doing it for 30 years...where'd you get your Virolog....I mean medical degree?"

He, specifically, can **** right off with that horseshit.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The misses add up, yeah.

Truly, what they do, is they make you go into FA. More and more often. And FA yields diminishing returns.

A missed 1st, or 2 or even 3 don't have direct, immediate catastrophic impacts to your roster. But they start to put you in binds on the cap because of what you have to do in FA to make up for them. And as our 2022 class gets more expensive, that's going to get harder and harder to do.

So you have to start nailing FA. And maybe that's exactly what will happen. But it starts to close off avenues and like I said, just makes your margins for error smaller and smaller and smaller.

They need FAU to atleast be.....good. Not elite/great whatever. But he's just gonna need to be a solid DE.

Outside that.....the misses are about what you would expect no?

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

We gonna get the Josh Simmons thread sent to DC.

To top it all off, Josh Simmons is MAGA!

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The irony of YOU of all people citing the 'wisdom of the experts' ought not be lost on you.

What do you think about that Fauci fell, Eh Florida?

I'll tolerate that particular bullshit argument from some folks. You, good sir, are one person on this entire board with absolutely no standing to make it.

Nice non-answer/deflect.

You are embarrassing yourself here by acting like you know more than Rick Burkholder.

It’s one thing to disagree with the talent evaluation of a player… but in this case you are arguing that the medical guidance/assessment of Burkholder… and his 30+ years of experience doing this… is incorrect.

Post your sports medicine credentials so we can compare them to Burkholder’s.

[Shields68]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The irony of YOU of all people citing the 'wisdom of the experts' ought not be lost on you.

What do you think about that Fauci fell, Eh Florida?

I'll tolerate that particular bullshit argument from some folks. You, good sir, are one person on this entire board with absolutely no standing to make it.

Fauci knew he was straight up lying. He knew that the jab did not prevent transmission and he knew it came from China.

The Chiefs Dr's are not looking to mislead. Now he can be wrong,. But I am guessing he knows the risks with this surgery, examined Simmons and reported his findings. Maybe wrong, maybe right time will tell. We also do not know what was relayed. It could be "I think he has a decent chance to be back at 100%" I doubt it was "I am 100% certain" SO are you saying it is 0% that he will ever be healthy enough to play?

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by kccrow

A couple of years ago, I said I was leaving for good. I'm not saying I'm leaving here now.

What's frustrating is that if you put in the time to find and share information and content here anymore, nobody really looks at it. If you formulate an opinion based on that information, you'll only be ridiculed, chastised, and rejected if it goes against what the Chiefs do.

I asked for the link and you shared it. And I appreciated that and legitimately went through the study and read a good portion of it. Hand to god.

But I understand statistics and sample sizes too. And I don't think that a study like that is entirely representative of the situation of this player as the Chiefs are evaluating him (I've already shared why that's the case earlier).

Do you really think the Chiefs aren't aware of this study? Has Andy Reid never come across it? And to be clear, this is an Andy Reid decision more than anyone else's.

We're not talking about evaluating a football player. We're not even really talking about an evaluation of the medicals.

We're talking about the process of Andy Reid and Brett Veach and whether they're foolhardy gunslingers caked in hubris who have a history of these longshot gambles. Or whether they have had as much success building a team as any other in the NFL. And whether they are capable of balancing the overall historicals around this injury, the Simmons-specific case, and the risk/reward.

I think they are and am fine with the pick regardless of the outcome.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

This is ultimately where I have to get to - the team has blown a couple first round picks in the last 5 years and it's been fine.

But every time they do they get just a little closer to the pack. To where a few weeks of scattershot play cost them a bye or HFA and now they have to work just a little harder to get to where they want to be.

And as HoF throughput like Jones and Kelce age out while the home run 2022 draft class gets more expensive, they get closer and closer to being ordinary + Pat Mahomes.

Which is still a damn nice place to be. But it makes your margins week to week and season that much tighter.

But the blown picks weren't actually the top choices by Veach. Mahomes was banging the table for CEH and it was at the time a "luxury" pick to many, so they did it. FAU was taken in the draft in KC and Lamar wanted a pick and nobody would trade down, so we took the local kid. This isn't the case with this, it's a calculated risk by Reid, Veach and the medical staff. A far cry from the other two.