[Nate Taylor] Andy Reid said Josh Simmons, who didn’t participate in today’s practice, called the rookie’s absence a “family situation.” Reid on Rashee Rice: “He looked sharp. What we asked him to do, he did well. You can tell he’s in good shape. He busted his tail.”

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  4. I just heard the clip about Josh. Reid said “family situation” and was then asked to confirm and he said “personal situation.” At this point any speculation is meaningless. I just wish we had a timetable for his return but he’ll be back when he’s ready. Hope he gets what he needs. 

  5. One of the things we do know about Josh is that family is important to him, and takes priority over football. To the point that he’s made choices based on family that were potentially detrimental to the advancement of his football career.

    Coming out of high school Josh had 27 offers from Georgia, USC, Oregon, Michigan, and other top tier programs. He chose to go play in his hometown at San Diego State University because he wanted to be close to his mother and grandmother (who was sick).

    The dude was raised by a single mom in a Somoan family (family is huge priority). He supposedly had a rough adjustment when he transferred to Ohio State (at 20 years old) because it was his first time leaving home. He’s still just a 22 year old kid finding his way in the world. If something has happened to his mom or another close family member (and it sounds as though whatever it is is pretty serious) I can see that having an outsized effect on Josh and him dropping everything to go be with his family.

    Most importantly whatever that is Josh clearly wants it to be kept private, between him and his family, and that should be respected.

  6. Saying its a family situation is _far_ more informative than what they’d been saying all week. I wish they said this on Monday. Until today, it wasn’t even clear if it was a personal, like mental breakdown, issue, or familial.

  8. Moore is a stud, also important to remind people that this is why we also have Taylor. He is as important to the line as Moore is now that Simmons isn’t available

  9. The problem is that the Streisand Effect exists. No one reasonable would demand he leave an important personal matter for their own watching enjoyment. The team is paying a backup (who played great) $15 MM for just this situation and we’re playing the shitty raiders; we’ll be fine. But going full “dark mode” is just raising more questions. This doesn’t seem like a hard PR challenge and it’s being handled very poorly.

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