{"id":254551,"date":"2025-08-02T00:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T00:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/254551\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T00:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T00:04:12","slug":"chiefs-training-camp-andy-reid-on-josh-simmons-offensive-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/254551\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Training Camp: Andy Reid on Josh Simmons, offensive line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coming off their blowout Super Bowl<\/a> LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>, the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> made it a priority to bolster the offensive line this offseason. <\/p>\n

General manager Brett Veach did so by first signing former San Francisco 49ers<\/a> offensive tackle Jaylon Moore and then drafting Ohio State<\/a>\u2019s Josh Simmons with the No. 32 overall pick. <\/p>\n

A week into camp… well, so far, so good.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s getting a lot of reps, which I think is important for a rookie,\u201d said Reid of Simmons on Friday. \u201cSo he\u2019s been in there and consistently showing up every day and working and not taking plays off or any of that. He\u2019s a worker. He\u2019s willing to do it. It\u2019s just a matter of, \u2018You gotta keep on going.\u2019 But he\u2019s done a nice job with what we\u2019ve asked him. He\u2019s working on all the fundamentals and techniques, so that\u2019s a challenge for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons silenced many doubters when he progressed enough in his injury rehab to be a full, healthy participant during organized team activities (OTAs) \u2014 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\u2019s training staff have shifted their focus to maintenance work.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know my body,\u201d he explained. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to go somewhere else, and then they have to kind of re-figure out my body \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the injury behind him, Simmons is playing freely while learning from line coach Andy Heck and Bill Walsh minority-coaching fellow Juan Castillo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put like a plethora of just different pass sets, different hand movements into my toolbox,\u201d noted Simmons. \u201cSo it\u2019s like the best resource any rookie can have \u2014 just having that in your back pocket. Asking after a pass rush, \u2018What did I do wrong here? How can I fix it?\u2019 And then go to the next rep and then make those corrections. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons says his greatest challenge right now is understanding defenses, and there may be no better adversaries to train against than defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and defensive line coach Joe Cullen.<\/p>\n

\u201c[By reading defenses], I can play a lot faster,\u201d said Simmons. \u201cLike if I can see a front and anticipate that they may do a stunt or a blitz… then I can easily help Kingsley communicate \u2014 stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suamataia is on his own journey, continuing to settle in at left guard after a failed 2024 stint at left tackle. Theoretically, playing inside should be easier for the second-year lineman than to play outside \u2014 but at Chiefs\u2019 camp, it does mean more reps against a future Pro Football Hall of Famer: Chris Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day you can get better, and he\u2019s doing that,\u201d said Reid of Suamataia. \u201cHe\u2019s battling. They talk \u2014 he and Chris [Jones] talk. Chris has got a ton of respect for him. He knows how good he is, and so they work it. And then they were going back and forth [Friday]. You know, he had some good ones, Chris had some \u2014 well, they\u2019re getting better. That makes each other better \u2014 competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the first week, Suamataia has seemed confident \u2014 and the coaching staff noticed improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been on a mission since he got back,\u201d added Reid. \u201cHe\u2019s been pretty focused in on that. You know, I think he likes that spot, and he\u2019s taken to it well. He\u2019s willing to work. That\u2019s never been his issue, man. He comes out and he works his tail off, so we\u2019ve been happy with what we see. We\u2019ve got to keep going. But [a] powerful kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed for clarity on the starting rotation, Reid kept his answer positive for all the candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives you flexibility,\u201d said Reid. \u201cSo if somebody gets hurt, you plug a guy in. You only can dress so many on game day. So you want to make sure you\u2019ve got some guys that can kind of move around a little bit \u2014 whether it\u2019s a guard playing center, center playing guard, tackle playing guard. You\u2019re lucky enough, you might get one that plays all three spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Observations<\/p>\n

Caleb James was present for Tuesday\u2019s practice. You can find his complete observations by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Injury report<\/p>\n

Returned to practice: LB Jeff Bassa (ankle), OL Jawaan Taylor (knee), WR Xavier Worthy (ear)<\/p>\n

Out of practice (due to injury): TE Jake Briningstool (out with hamstring since 7\/26), WR Hollywood Brown (out with ankle since 7\/30), S Deon Bush (out with hamstring since 7\/29), WR Skyy Moore (out with hamstring since 7\/30)<\/p>\n

Left practice early (due to injury): LB Drue Tranquill<\/p>\n

Non-football injury (NFI) list: DL BJ Thompson<\/p>\n

Physically unable to perform (PUP) list: CB Kristian Fulton (out with knee since 7\/22)<\/p>\n

Post of the day<\/p>\n

Our John Dixon compiled all of Friday\u2019s posts here<\/a>. Here is the post of the day<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Sure looks like he\u2019s still got it.<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/p>\n

Wide receiver Nikko Remigio on his efforts to make the roster: \u201cI think the thing that I\u2019ve learned with this business is that if you get too comfortable, you\u2019re gonna get got.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s padded practice leads into another padded workout on Saturday at 9:15 a.m. Arrowhead Time. Following the practice, special teams coach Dave Toub will address the media as defensive backs autographs.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the complete 2025 training camp schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming off their blowout Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs made it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10405,921,4382,346,7,29,856,922,1193,26169,1128,6,1127,144,151,10898,5521,5571],"class_list":{"0":"post-254551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-andy","9":"tag-arrowhead","10":"tag-camp","11":"tag-chiefs","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-front-page","14":"tag-josh","15":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","16":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-roster","17":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-training-camp","18":"tag-line","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-offensive","21":"tag-on","22":"tag-pride","23":"tag-reid","24":"tag-simmons","25":"tag-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114956249723896585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}