The Josh Simmons situation continues to reach unprecedented heights of strangeness for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The starting left tackle, Simmons, hasn’t played since mid-August. His only exception was a limited practice week ahead of Kansas City’s Week 6 game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The absence stems from a back injury that has been described as a bulging disc. The Chiefs placed Simmons on injured reserve after VP of Sports Medicine and Performance Rick Burkholder explained the injury.

Now, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is adding a troubling new layer to the story, focusing on Simmons’ future in Kansas City.

Team meeting frustrations change the context

Shortly after the IR move, news broke about frustrations boiling over in a team meeting. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes both told Simmons to leave the meeting and seek treatment for his back after he put his feet up, which he claimed was due to the injury.

The report indicates that Simmons later apologized to Reid and team leadership. He said he could have handled the situation better. In that context, everything the team has said about Simmons recently looks different. What once read like routine injury updates now carries a lot more weight. After Sunday night’s loss, Coach Reid didn’t deny the team meeting story when pressed about it by reporters.

“Things happen,” Reid said. “That’s no reason he was put on IR. He’s got a bad back. He’s got to get that worked out. That’s the main thing.”

What Ian Rapoport is saying about Simmons and the Chiefs

On a recent ESPN appearance, Rapoport said he doesn’t know if Simmons will play for the Chiefs again. He also indicated that the trust between the team and the player has been damaged, potentially beyond repair.

“So the gist of the report was this: something I reported with Mike Garafolo on Sunday, as you mentioned, that Josh Simmons was asked to leave a team meeting by Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes,” Rapoport said. “It involved having his feet up on the desk. He said he needed to because of his back. He’s going through rehab, and they said, ‘Well, just get out of here and go rehab.’ He did not handle it well. He went and apologized after.

“Then he was placed on injured reserve, and there are a lot of questions about Josh Simmons, who has as talented a left tackle as you could possibly get, he is a stud as a player. I don’t know if he plays for the Chiefs again. I don’t know when he plays for the Chiefs again. There’s nothing more important than protecting Patrick Mahomes. You have to believe in the person doing it, and until that happens, I don’t know that he’s out there.”

Reading between the lines, Rapoport seems to suggest that Kansas City no longer believes in Simmons. This isn’t just blind speculation from Rapoport either. ESPN’s Nate Taylor suggested the same on a recent appearance on 96.5 The Fan.

If you ask me, this goes beyond the fact that the back injury has been strange from the get-go. It also goes beyond his mysterious disappearance during the 2025 NFL season, which was bizarre in its own right. It feels like the Chiefs have protected this player through thick and thin to this point. Now they don’t feel they’ve received any reciprocation.

That distinction matters. Teams will stand by a player through injuries and even through odd absences. However, that patience tends to run out once an organization believes the effort isn’t going both ways.

Availability is the best ability

Nobody can deny that Simmons is a talented football player. He has the potential to be one of the league’s best offensive tackles.

That said, the old NFL adage has to matter at some point: Availability is the best ability. Simmons missed nine games in 2025, and he has already missed six more in 2026. That’s 15 missed games out of 23 possible. He’s played in just eight games since being selected with the last pick in Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft.

He’ll miss at least three more games on injured reserve. So far, there’s been no indication Simmons will return to play in the 2026 NFL season. Perhaps Rapoport is trying to send a message to the young, talented Simmons on behalf of the Chiefs.

For a team that has invested heavily in protecting Mahomes, losing a young tackle with this much talent stings. Kansas City can’t plan around a player it can’t count on, though. What happens over the next few weeks should reveal whether this relationship can still be salvaged, or whether the Chiefs have already started planning for life without him.