Josh Simmons
Kansas City ChiefsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 8 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Comps
STM Take
Rookie tier 7 (#53) at LT for the Chiefs given the pre-draft knee recovery context is roughly on the expected curve for a late-first OT pick. The Ohio State LT pedigree plus the Kansas City situational fit (Mahomes pocket discipline) sets up a clean year-two jump if the knee holds. The 2026 question is whether Simmons crosses into tier 5 and locks in the long-term LT job, or whether the Chiefs explore an upgrade.
Simmons came out of Ohio State as the Kansas City Chiefs' 1st-round pick (32nd overall) in 2025 after starting at LT for the Buckeyes through a 2024 season that ended in a knee injury before the Cotton Bowl. The Chiefs took him at the bottom of round one with the explicit plan to install him as Patrick Mahomes's long-term LT, replacing the Donovan Smith and Wanya Morris rotation. His rookie 2025 finish at tier 7 (#53) reflects the recovery context plus the rookie LT learning curve.
Strengths
- 32nd overall pick with the Ohio State LT pedigree gives him meaningful technical foundation despite the 2024 knee recovery interruption.
- Kansas City's offensive structure (Mahomes pocket discipline, Andy Reid scheme) compresses the typical rookie-LT pressure rate, helping the developmental signal.
Concerns
- Pre-draft knee injury that ended his Ohio State 2024 season raises real durability questions for a rookie LT taking a full Chiefs workload.
- Rookie tier 7 (#53) is below the median curve for late-1st OT picks on the Pro Bowl trajectory.
What to watch: Whether Simmons crosses into tier 5 (top 40) in 2026 with a full healthy season, or whether durability issues force the Chiefs back to the Wanya Morris rotation.