Chiefs placed faith in key staff member's input before drafting Josh Simmons

Simmons' recovery received an internal thumbs up

The Chiefs’ selection of Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons in the first round as the 32nd overall pick of 2025 NFL Draft might have raised some eyebrows.

Simmons suffered a torn patellar tendon in October 2024, after all.

But the pick came down to trust.

In this case, the Chiefs placed faith in one of their own, namely Rick Burkholder, the team’s vice president of sports medicine and performance.

"Rick Burkholder has done a bunch of work on him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He's (Simmons) in a good place."

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach echoed Reid, while providing more details on the deeper role Burkholder played in the evaluation process.

“Early on when we got back from the (NFL Scouting) Combine, I mean, everyone knew it was a patellar injury and those injuries are obviously serious and they’re six, seven months recovery,” Veach said. “I do remember early on Rick saying, ‘This knee looks really good. It got a really good surgery, really like the way it looks.’

“I said, ‘Would it help if we brought him in a few weeks later just to get an update on that?’ He said, ‘Absolutely.’”

The Chiefs eventually hosted Simmons as one of their Top 30 predraft visits, which allows another medical evaluation, and everything checked out.

“We did that, and he (Burkholder) said, ‘Yeah, it looks great,’” Veach said. “You guys may have seen some of the tape out there. He did do some stuff at the Pro Day; it was more stretching and some sets. But Rick said really for that injury for a guy to already be at that stage, he was well ahead of where he should be.

“Now, does it mean he’s going to be out there full tilt for OTAs (organized team activities)? I think we’ll be smart with it. But I think that when we spoke this morning there was really strong belief on Rick’s side that for training camp, he should be really good to go, so that will be big for us, big for him.”

Simmons’ injury contributed to his slide, of course.

The Chiefs likely don’t get a shot at a fully healthy Simmons at the end of the first round because he projected as an early first-round pick before suffering the knee injury.

“Had it not been for that injury, I mean, he’s probably not there,” Veach admitted. “It’s probably a blessing in a weird way that that injury happened for us to be in this position.”

Kansas City now possesses another option at a position the team has been trying to stabilize since Eric Fisher left in 2021.

The Chiefs previously addressed left tackle during free agency by signing Jaylon Moore to a two-year contract, and he projected as the starter before the draft.

Simmons’ arrival, though, opens the door for competition at a high-profile position, which is responsible for protecting quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ blindside.

But as Veach mentioned, the Chiefs aren’t expected to rush Simmons’ recovery process and are fully eyeing training camp to get their first-round pick on the practice field.

Even if Simmons requires more time to recover during and after training camp, the Chiefs should be in a good spot with Moore on the roster and Jawaan Taylor manning the right tackle position.

The best-case scenario is that Simmons will be ready this season and he beats out Moore at left tackle during training camp. Taylor plays out the final year of his contract this season, and then Moore could move to right tackle in 2026.

“We’ve got some flexibility there,” Reid said.

Still, none of the scenarios with Simmons are in place for the future if the Chiefs don’t have trust in one of the key members of their staff when it comes to medical input.

“My whole thing was where Rick was, and, again, it was a serious injury, but from the surgery to the rehab to where he (Simmons) is now to how he was progressing,” Veach said, “I mean, Rick said this is best-case scenario for this injury for where he is were really positive. I trust in our training staff, so ultimately, I always defer to him.”