It’s been a week since the Kansas City Chiefs placed starting left tackle Josh Simmons on injured reserve with a back injury, and he’s still making headlines.

On Wednesday, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes addressed the injury and off-field situation surrounding Simmons. He made it very clear where he stands on the young lineman’s future in Kansas City.

Mahomes didn’t sound like someone ready to move on. He sounded like a team leader who still believes in both the player and the person.

Patrick Mahomes addresses the Josh Simmons team meeting report

Mahomes was asked about a report that surfaced ahead of Week 7’s tilt with the Seattle Seahawks. According to the report, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Mahomes asked Simmons to leave a team meeting after he put his feet up. Simmons apparently said that he had to put his feet up to ease his back pain, and Coach Reid took issue with it. The spat was leaked to NFL media.

Asked about the report and his role in asking Simmons to leave, Mahomes told reporters the right conversations have taken place internally. He also said he doesn’t pay much attention to the outside noise.

 “Stuff like that doesn’t really bother me because I’m so in the moment, in the team, and when you’re in this building, you don’t even really hear stuff like that unless (Vice President of Football Communications) Brad (Gee) tells you that stuff,” Mahomes said. “And so, I think we’ve had the right conversations now. We’re moving in the right direction, and you have to have hard conversations at some point, and I think we’ve had those. We’ve had great conversations after, and I think we’re moving in the right direction; that will be great for the team.”

This tracks with how Mahomes has addressed controversy in the past. However, what if this story becomes a distraction in the building?

Is Josh Simmons becoming a distraction?

Mahomes was then asked whether the story, or the interaction itself, could become a distraction when winning football games is the job. He admitted it certainly could be a distraction. However, he added that in this case, the Chiefs have Simmons heading in the right direction as both a player and a person.

 “If you handle it the wrong way, it could be,” Mahomes said. “But at the same time, I feel like we’ve built this culture of coming together as a family and doing whatever we can to make sure that not only the player, but the person is going in the right direction,” Mahomes said. “And so, you can have those hard conversations, and then you can have the good conversations that come after that. It’s not always great in life in general. You have to be able to have tough conversations so that you can have better conversations going forward. And so, I think that’s something that we’ve built here.”

That contrasts sharply with the outside view. Earlier this week, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport said he does not know if Simmons will ever play for the Chiefs again. Mahomes, meanwhile, remains confident the team, the players, and everyone else in the building can get Simmons back on track.

Josh Simmons’ availability has been a problem since he entered the NFL

Simmons hasn’t been on the field much since Kansas City drafted him out of Ohio State in the 2025 NFL Draft. He has missed 15 of 23 possible games in his young career.

Missed nine games as a rookie in 2025, four due to a personal family matter and five due to a dislocated wrist. He played in just eight games in 2025. He has already missed six games in 2026 due to a lower back injury, which has been described as a bulging disc.  Has not played in a game in 2026.

Because he’s on injured reserve, Simmons will miss at least the next three games. That would bring his total to nine missed games in 2025 and 2026. By then, he’ll have played just eight of 26 possible games since entering the league.

For a player the Chiefs viewed as their answer at left tackle, those numbers are hard to ignore. They’re a big part of why so many people outside the building have started to question whether Simmons has a future in Kansas City.

Mahomes’ confidence says a lot about Simmons behind the scenes

Carrington Harrison asked Mahomes on 96.5 The Fan whether he believes Simmons will be back on the field on Sundays. Mahomes’ answer showed confidence that Simmons will return, and it says exactly what he believes about the person and the player.

“I’m extremely confident because I’ve seen the work that he puts in,” Mahomes said. “You know, like it’s obviously you have a back injury, and those things are weird. And I mean, I know when that back locks up, man, you can’t do a lot, and so he’s doing his rehab. He’s doing his work. He’s doing everything he can to be back on that field. And obviously, we’re not to that point yet. But he’ll have a couple of weeks here now while he’s on IR, where he can get himself back to the physical shape that he can be in, and then he’ll be able to step onto that football field. And he’ll be mentally confident to go out there and be the best version of himself. And when he’s able to do that, he’ll be back on the football field because of how talented he is, and so it’s about getting him right physically and mentally to go out there and be the best version of Josh Simmons, which will help out the Kansas City Chiefs.”

What comes next remains to be seen. Simmons still has to get healthy, and nobody can promise that he’ll be back out there anytime soon. But Mahomes not giving up on him is a good sign. It suggests Simmons is doing at least some of the right things behind the scenes. He appears to be working to rectify the situation from the team meeting and to show his teammates that he wants to return from the back injury that has kept him off the field this season.

For now, the Chiefs will keep moving forward without their starting left tackle. If Simmons does return, Mahomes has already made it clear he’ll be in his corner.