We got some big Chiefs news all of one snap into training camp
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Josh Simmons took all first-team reps at left tackle on Day 1 of camp drills.
- Chiefs shift focus from Simmons’ health to his readiness to start Week 1.
- Jaylon Moore offers veteran insurance, raising competition at left tackle.
The first pass of Chiefs training camp team drills whipped through the air at 9:42 a.m. Tuesday, and wouldn’t you know it, Patrick Mahomes wanted to begin with a deep shot.
Connected on it, too. The superstar quarterback hit second-year wide receiver Xavier Worthy on a downfield route, with Worthy beating cornerback Jaylon Watson in coverage for about a 35-yard grab.
This is going to be a theme and story of this summer’s camp, and ideally a story of the season — you know, same as it was last summer’s camp and last season. Can the Chiefs rejuvenate a downfield passing game that has withered away the last two years?
But it wasn’t even the biggest story of the first day in St. Joseph.
That came before Mahomes even received a football from his center, Creed Humphrey, and even before they banded together for team drills. It’s about the guy who lined up two spots to Humphrey’s left, as the blindside protector.
Josh Simmons, your time has arrived.
Already.
Simmons, the Chiefs’ first-round draft pick this spring, took all the first-team reps at left tackle — an early but evident sign that it will be his job to lose here at Missouri Western.
It’s more confirmation than revelation of what the Chiefs envision for the first-round pick. It’s been trending this way since organized team activities and mandatory minicamp, or even further back when head coach Andy Reid first displayed an abundance of optimism the night of the NFL Draft that Simmons would be healthy enough to roll by training camp.
All systems go now.
While the narrative for the last couple of months has followed Simmons’ health and availability after a devastating knee injury at Ohio State, it now shifts to his ability. It’s no longer about whether he is healthy enough, but rather whether he’s good enough to play, and to play immediately.
That answer deserves real scrutiny, more than the Chiefs had for the position a year ago, because it could trigger the most important development of the team’s 2025 season. They didn’t have anyone even average at the position in 2024, despite trying just about everyone in uniform. Those downfield shots that I mentioned? They can’t happen without the protection holding up.
They didn’t last year. And come to think of it, that memory feels particularly fresh after Tuesday’s opening day.
It was precisely 12 months ago that the Chiefs trotted out rookie Kingsley Suamataia at left tackle to open training camp. Suamataia even started the first two games, before he was benched. The Chiefs subsequently started three other players at left tackle. (Suamataia is lining up with the starters at left guard this year.)
There’s going to be an urge to compare the two — Suamataia at left tackle from the jump and now Simmons in the same position at the same point in his career. Heck, I’ve made the comparison. It’s not exactly a stretch.
But it’s not identical, either.
Well, better yet: It doesn’t have to be identical.
Or better still: It can’t be identical.
We’re 45 days shy of writing about a season opener in Brazil. Simmons receiving the first-team reps in camp does not necessarily equate to him lining up against the Chargers in Week 1.
That’s where the lesson from a year ago must differ. Simmons has to earn the job with his play after an evaluation backed by something more than idealism.
But that’s actually where this situation already differs — where it’s more contrast than comparison. The Chiefs have a Plan B. Jaylon Moore is the most expensive free-agent acquisition of Kansas City’s offseason, and he provides what Suamataia did not have a year ago: insurance.
The Chiefs, in other words, can make Simmons earn the job because they have a choice if he does not. It’s on them to set that bar, but the mere existence of one already differentiates this year, and situation, from the last.
Just as Simmons shouldn’t be handed the job based on hope, neither should he be held back merely because of the anecdotal evidence from a year ago. He and Suamataia are not the same player, even if they occupied the same position 12 months apart.
It is possible, after all, for a rookie to be ready to roll.
“You see the talent, obviously. You see the physical ability. But I think more than that, (it’s) the way he (Simmons) has worked,” Mahomes said. “I got see him working through the rest of his rehab process and then working on the field. He’s done a great job with that.
“And then (he’s) learning — he’s getting tested every single day with (defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) — being able to pick up blitzes and do a lot of different type of stuff, as well as go against some great pass rushers. So I’m excited for the future that he has.”
The speaker there — Mahomes — will shape the organization’s future more than anyone.
But second on that list might be what the Chiefs do at left tackle — particularly if they can solve a position they haven’t solved long-term for a half-decade.
There’s optimism.
Over the next four weeks, there needs to be something more.
This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM with the headline "We got some big Chiefs news all of one snap into training camp."