Matt Nagy’s latest comments on Chiefs rookie LT Josh Simmons raise an important question about his eventual return
Matt Nagy was asked about whether Jaylon Moore would keep the Chiefs’ starting left tackle role over Josh Simmons in the future.
Kansas City Chiefs LT Josh Simmons is expected to miss his fourth consecutive game in Week 9 against the Buffalo Bills, as he remains away from the team for personal reasons.
The latest comments from Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt on Simmons were encouraging, but it remains to be seen if and when he’ll rejoin the team. Assuming he does rejoin the team, the question becomes: Will the starting left tackle job be his?
Chiefs OC Matt Nagy was asked about this on Thursday, explaining that the decision is outside his pay grade. But he raised a notable point.
“We haven’t… that’s, again, something that I have not even come across,” Nagy said. “That’s with Coach Reid and (Brett) Veach when that time comes. You know, Josh (Simmons) is playing well, too. So, the part that you like is that you’ve got guys that are playing well, and then we just kind of work through all that other stuff.”
No one will complain about having three good options at tackle in Jawaan Taylor, Simmons, and Moore, but only two of them can start in a given week. If Simmons returns during the bye week, which seems like the logical time, you risk upsetting the chemistry built over the last several weeks.
Is that a risk the team will want to take? They don’t want another Elvis Grbac vs. Rich Gannon situation on their hands. The truth is that how the team responds to Simmons’ eventual return won’t just reveal their opinion of Moore, but will also shed light on what has been going on between the team and Simmons.
How the Chiefs respond when Josh Simmons returns will tell us everything we need to know
If Simmons remains in good standing with the team, there’s zero question about how they should handle this situation. You go back to Simmons, who was on his way to carving out his role as the franchise left tackle in Kansas City.
You put Moore back on the bench as your swing tackle, backing up Simmons and Taylor, knowing that he can more than handle being called into a game situation out of the cold.
Chiefs left tackle Josh Simmons vs. Jaylon Moore stat comparison (via PFF):
- Josh Simmons: One sack and 12 pressures on 314 offensive snaps.
- Jaylon Moore: Two sacks and eight pressures on 234 offensive snaps.
If the team doesn’t go that route, it will signal that there’s more to what happened than meets the eye. The team has maintained that communication has been good throughout this process, but their public communication regarding Simmons’ absence has been nothing short of strange.
In the end, all you can hope for is that Simmons eventually returns to action in some capacity because his play on the field makes this team better.
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