Chiefs Place Left Tackle Josh Simmons on Injured Reserve After He Missed Every Game This Season

The Kansas City Chiefs are placing left tackle Josh Simmons on injured reserve, the team announced. Simmons has not played a down this season.

The designation requires him to miss at least four games. For a Super Bowl contender protecting quarterback Patrick Mahomes, losing the starting left tackle for most or all of the remaining season is a significant hit.

What the team says happened

Chiefs Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance Rich Burkholder spoke to reporters on Thursday. He said Simmons reported a leg issue on August 17, and that the team determined it was related to a bulging disc in his back.

Burkholder said Simmons saw a specialist who recommended therapy rather than surgery.

Simmons practiced in a limited capacity last week for the first time since reporting the problem. On Wednesday, the team listed him as a non-participant in practice for "back/non-injury personal reasons."

Burkholder said Simmons used that day to talk with his family before deciding that injured reserve was the best path. He described Simmons' recovery as having "plateaued."

The timeline keeps shifting

In August, reporters close to the team repeatedly said the injury was minor and that Simmons would be back by Week 1. He was not.

The next explanation was that the Chiefs had not put him on injured reserve because they expected him back within the first four weeks. That did not happen either.

Head coach Andy Reid's comments also sit awkwardly beside Burkholder's. On Monday, Reid said Simmons would continue to "ramp up" this week. On Wednesday morning, Reid did not list Simmons among the players who would miss practice.

The team's explanation, according to Fox News, is that Reid simply forgot to mention his starting left tackle's status.

Fox News commentary argues that skepticism about the Chiefs' version of events is warranted. It points to the gap between the early "minor injury" talk, Reid's Monday remarks and the Thursday announcement.

ESPN NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler used the word "mysterious" last month to describe Simmons' situation.

The team's side

The Chiefs' account is internally coherent. A bulging disc is the kind of injury that can improve, stall and flare up on its own schedule, and the specialist's advice to avoid surgery points toward a conservative, slow recovery.

Burkholder's statement that Simmons "plateaued" is the team's stated reason for the move. The team also says the player took time to consult his family before agreeing to the designation.

Neither the team nor Burkholder has described the "non-injury personal reasons" beyond that phrase. No one in the Chiefs organization has publicly suggested anything beyond the back injury and the player's family discussion.

What is still open

The four-game minimum is a floor, not a forecast. The Chiefs have not given a target return date, and Burkholder's "plateau" language does not say whether Simmons is expected to play again this season.

The next concrete marker is the roster. Kansas City now has to line up its offensive front for Mahomes without Simmons for at least four games, and what the team says about his status when that stretch ends will show whether this IR stint is the end of the 2026 season for him.