Patrick Mahomes is thinking of his teammate, Josh Simmons, amid the offensive lineman’s mysterious leave of absence from the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I’ll keep conversations kind of between us,” Mahomes, 30, told reporters on Wednesday, October 15. “But I’m always praying for him. I’m praying for all my teammates. So, I’m always praying for them, and I’ll keep everything else kind of private to us.”
Simmons, 22, was ruled out of the Chiefs game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, October 12, just hours before kickoff.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported Simmons was “dealing with a family matter back home in California.”
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Chiefs head coach Andy Reid also addressed Simmons’ absence during his comments to reporters on Wednesday.
“As far as Josh Simmons’ situation goes, I’m not going to comment on it today,” he said. “[Chiefs general manager Brett] Veach is handling everything there. And we’ll leave it at that.”
When asked whether he had a timeline for Simons’ return, Reid, 67, simply shook his head.
During an appearance on 96.5 The Fan on Thursday, October 16, ESPN’s Nate Taylor called the Simmons story “the strangest situation I can think of since the first year covering the team on a daily basis.”
“I do believe it’s a family matter,” Taylor said. “I do believe Josh Simmons is back in the southern California, San Diego area, which is his hometown. … When Patrick Mahomes said yesterday that he’s ‘praying’ for Josh Simmons, I think we all need to take that cue from the quarterback. I’m fearful, I guess, is probably the best way I can explain what I’ve heard. Some of which I’ve tried to gather and confirm and other things I’m still trying to pursue in terms of having a better understanding of what Josh is going through.”
Taylor continued, “I’m fearful because we don’t have all the details right now. And that makes the outcome perhaps grim. I just want people to understand that this is really difficult for Josh. I can’t imagine what he’s going through based on what I’ve heard. But hopefully we’ll know more in the coming days.”
Taylor argued that the situation with Simmons puts the Chiefs organization in a delicate spot as they attempt to figure out how to move forward.
“You could do all the scouting, you could do all the background, all the research, you could be aware of everything that is surrounding a player’s life well before you select them in the draft, but life is unpredictable,” Taylor said. “Sometimes you just don’t have control over things. So you have to be a human that sympathizes, that has empathy, that is trying to communicate well. To get the player to understand where you’re coming from and to obviously try to meet that player at least halfway on these things.”
Before the Chiefs’ game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on October 6, Simmons was listed as questionable with an “illness” just hours before kickoff but ended up playing in the game.
“I think that has to relate to his absence this past Sunday and ongoing,” Taylor theorized. “These things are related.”
Simmons is still listed as questionable for the Chiefs next game on Sunday, October 19, against the Las Vegas Raiders.