Latest news with #JoshSimmons
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
PFT Draft: Most indispensable AFC non-quarterbacks
From Nico Collins to Josh Simmons, Mike Florio and Chris Simms share their most indispensable non-quarterbacks for the Bills, Ravens, Texans and Chiefs — the four teams that won division titles in the AFC last season.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Kansas City Chiefs OL coach Andy Heck recaps Josh Simmons' preseason debut
During Tuesday's training camp press conference, Kansas City Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck shared his thoughts on rookie left tackle Josh Simmons' preseason debut last Saturday. "It's a big job for anybody coming in to learn the details of the offense, assignments (and) techniques. Every play has a thousand little details and so picking those things up, that was job one in the spring where he (Josh Simmons) was doing less physical work with us." said Heck, "Since he has gotten to training camp, he's been able to every day add one or two of these details that are important to each play. So, I've seen him steadily improve, and his understanding - and we're able to have better conversations about what's going on and I think that'swhat we'll see his trajectory do is just go like this (points up)." Simmons played briefly in the starting lineup against the Arizona Cardinals but made a positive impression. Heck was happy with Simmons' performance, but refuses to compare him to anyone he's worked with through his coaching career. "I'd hesitate to compare guys; every guy is different. I'm still in a learning process myself, of what makes him (Josh Simmons) tick, how does he learn best (and) how can I help him get better? There's constant communication there," said Heck, "But I would say he's certainly as talented a player as I've ever been around. He loves the game. So, those are two good things: when you're talented and you love the game, and you want to be the best, you've got a great chance to be a good one." Simmons earned Third-Team All-Big Ten honors for the 2024 National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Saturday's game was his first since suffering a patellar tendon injury, ending his college career.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Patrick Mahomes sends strong message to Chiefs' Josh Simmons
Patrick Mahomes sends strong message to Chiefs' Josh Simmons originally appeared on The Sporting News The Kansas City Chiefs invested a first-round pick, 32nd overall, on Josh Simmons to be part of the group that protects Patrick Mahomes. Last season, the Chiefs were middle of the pack in sacks allowed with 41, so there's room for improvement on that unit. After giving up six sacks in the Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs decided that Simmons will be the guy to help with the overhaul and Patrick Mahomes is excited to have the Ohio State product protect him as he told Kay Adams. "He's just a dog at the end of the day," Mahomes told Adams "He's obviously working through being an NFL pro and becoming a veteran. But when it comes to pass blocking and run blocking, he can get the job done. That's where it all starts. He's getting tested out here by [Steve Spagnuolo] with the defensive line that we have. "But I don't think there was one specific moment. I think it's more about hearing the defensive guys talk about him. He does the right things when you want a guy who's going to go out there and contribute. The sky's the limit. He has a chance to be one of the best there is at left tackle." Kansas City cannot afford to have an injury happen to Mahomes because they didn't have the proper offensive line to ensure that their star player stays upright and has enough time to throw the football. MORE:Chiefs' Chris Jones drops bold take on Cowboys, Micah Parsons contract issue Mahomes' comments should lead many to believe that Simmons could be a rookie who could hit the ground running and not have that adaptation phase that some first-year players make when transitioning from college to the pros. The Chiefs' first game of the season will be out of the country as they face their AFC West rival, the San Diego Chargers, on September 5 in São Paulo, Brazil, at Neo Química Arena.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
In his first action with the Chiefs, Josh Simmons was impressive
On Saturday night, the Kansas City Chiefs dropped their preseason opener to the Arizona Cardinals, recording a 20-17 loss at State Farm Stadium in suburban Phoenix. But even so, Kansas City's starters looked crisp in the opening quarter, giving a glimpse of what the 2025 team might look like. This included the highly anticipated pro debut for the team's left tackle Josh Simmons. During the Chiefs' training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, no other rookie has drawn more attention — either locally or nationally — than the team's first-round pick from Ohio State. On Saturday night, Simmons played for only two drives — a total of 10 snaps — but it was enough to demonstrate that what we have seen in hasn't been a fluke. Film evaluation The game began with a gift for Kansas City's first-team offense: the Cardinals lost a fumble on the opening kickoff. This gave the Chiefs great field position and a chance to take an early lead. After a few successful running plays and a penalty, the Chiefs were knocking on the door. On the snap, Simmons explodes out of his stance, patiently waiting for the edge rusher to work his way up the field. As the defender starts to close in, Simmons fires his hands, quickly locking up his opponent to win the play. Left unmolested in the pocket, quarterback Patrick Mahomes is able to hit wide receiver Jason Brownlee for the touchdown. While this play only took a few seconds (and was a fairly easy rep), seeing Simmons work so effortlessly out of his stance displayed his fundamentals and his explosiveness. On the next offensive drive, we saw Simmons' pass protection in some extended plays. Here, Simmons is 1-on-1 with the edge rusher. On the snap, he fires out of his stance, transferring the power from his inside drive foot to his slide foot. Keeping his feet close to the ground, he takes short, powerful steps — and when the edge comes in close, Simmons sinks his hips and fires his hands into the defender's frame. While the whistle hasn't yet blown, the play between these two men is essentially over. While mirroring the edge down the line, Simmons remains locked on through the end of the play. This highlights his strong core and grip, along with the flexibility and power he possesses in his lower half. A few plays later, Simmons made his first blunder of the evening. On this play, Simmons does a good job of getting out of his stance, but misses wide with his hands. This allows the edge rusher to gain control of the inside positioning. He starts to work a bull rush, but Simmons anchors himself to the ground to slow it down — and eventually regains hand position to win the leverage battle. The snap was far from perfect. But Simmons displayed the ability to recover after being beaten off the snap. That's a key trait that we see in nearly all of the league's high-level offensive linemen. The bottom line This was, of course, a very small sample size. But it showed that when the game is being played at full speed, Simmons continues to show the traits we have observed in training camp. These few plays also established a nice baseline from which he can build as the preseason continues. The Chiefs' vanilla offensive game plan provided Simmons with only a few 1-on-1 plays in pass protection — and the team didn't run the ball in his direction very much. So we'll need to see a lot more to really get a handle on where this young player stands. But in Friday's road exhibition game against the Seattle Seahawks, Simmons (and the rest of the projected starters) are likely to get substantially more playing time as the team continues to ramp up to the opening game of the season. We'll probably see a little more variety in the plays that are called, too. Saturday's sample size was small, but it was promising, too. On Friday night, all eyes will continue to be on the left side of the Chiefs' offensive line.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
'They rush different from our guys' — Chiefs LT Josh Simmons' preseason Week 1 admission proves he's the man for the job in Kansas City
'They rush different from our guys' — Chiefs LT Josh Simmons' preseason Week 1 admission proves he's the man for the job in Kansas City originally appeared on A to Z Sports. Kansas City Chiefs rookie LT Josh Simmons gave Chiefs Kingdom a taste of what's to come in his preseason debut against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1. In what was his first live game action since suffering a patella tendon injury with the Ohio State Buckeyes last October, Simmons got the starter treatment, playing just two series before being pulled with the rest of the starting lineup. One of those series was with starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes, while the other was with Gardner Minshew under center. "First of all, it was a lot of fun playing with the guys," Simmons told reporters. "You see the work from camp that you go ahead and translate onto the field. I think we had a great first quarter. Obviously, the whole team had one. But there's some good nuggets that you can learn from going into practice this week." Simmons played just 11 snaps against the Cardinals, with four opportunities to block the run and seven opportunities to pass block. He pitched a virtual shutout with no sacks, no pressures, and no penalties allowed during those opportunities, lining up against both sixth-year OLB Baron Browning and fifth-year OLB Zaven Collins. The impressive part? He was going up against an entirely different type of edge rusher in Saturday's game compared to what he's been facing regularly at Missouri Western State University for the past two weeks. Chiefs LT Josh Simmons had to adjust on the fly to the Cardinals' defense Going against Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon's 3-4 defense was a new and unique challenge for Simmons, who found himself adjusting on the fly to some key differences between what he's seen from Steve Spagnuolo's defense at Chiefs training camp. "Yeah, it was different," Simmons told reporters after the game. "So, they rush different from our guys. So that's probably a bigger adjustment you have to be able to (make) because, like, people may line up wider. They (the Cardinals) line up a lot wider than we do. So, you're gonna have to set a little bit deeper and keep that position between you and the quarterback, and make the quarterback a lot more accurate, if that makes sense. Probably that suggestion on the fly to those."While the Chiefs don't do a whole lot of game planning for preseason games, Simmons did at the very least feel prepared for the level of competition that the NFL brings. "We train a lot," Simmons said. "We train really hard. I'm going against the standard every day in Chris Jones and (George) Karlaftis. So, when you go against these guys, it's different. But I wouldn't say it's overwhelming. It's just more about, like I said, adjusting to what they'll bring." With Simmons already looking ahead to what he can learn from this game and bring back to the remaining training camp practices, it's easy to understand why Chiefs HC Andy Reid viewed his debut in such a positive light.'I wasn't screaming at him, so I figured he did okay," Reid joked. "He looked like he had a solid day, especially for his first game; he's been working his tail off. That kid never complains about anything; he just goes."Asked about handling feedback from others, Simmons made it clear that he's trying to get on the same level as some of his current teammates. To do that, he understands that he needs to be coachable and pick up every little piece of information that could possibly give him an advantage. That includes learning to adjust on the fly. "Yeah, I've been to Ohio State, and kind of the way you become like a guy like 52 (Creed Humphrey) or (65 Trey Smith), you have to soak everything in like a sponge," He explained. "No matter if it's going back to the basics or learning something that you're totally uncomfortable with. So I try to keep my ears as open as possible, because I know anything as a rookie can definitely help me."This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Aug 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
