Simmons could end up being a bit of a project in the NFL. After a redshirt season at San Diego State, Simmons started a season at right tackle for the Aztecs before transferring to Columbus and switching to left tackle. As a redshirt junior, Simmons returned to start on the left side for another year before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
In his time with the Buckeyes, the 22-year-old displayed quickness off the line of scrimmage and impressive balance. While he isn’t much of a bulldozer in the run game, his quickness can help him be effective on pulls. What really shines for Simmons is his pass blocking abilities, which were good enough to put him in consideration for OT1 honors in the draft class, had he not experienced his injury setback.
He won’t be a project because he needs to develop, he’ll potentially be a project because his road back to 100% health may be a bit of a journey. The injury led him to be the fifth tackle taken in the draft and the eighth offensive lineman taken. If it was poor play that led to his slide, he may have slipped out of the first round altogether.
Because of his injury, though, any team that drafted him was likely going to want to use a first-round pick on him so that the fifth-year option gives them a bit of additional time to evaluate his prospects for a second NFL contract.
In Kansas City, last year’s starting tackles, Jawaan Taylor and Wanya Morris, were anything but impressive. The team also has last year’s second-round pick, Kingsley Suamataia, and free agent signing Jaylon Moore to work with, as well.
Suamataia started the first two games for the Chiefs at right tackle last year before being benched for Morris, while Moore finished the last portion of 2024 filling in for Trent Williams as the 49ers starting left tackle.
In an ideal situation, it would be asking a lot of Simmons to jump into a competition that could see any combination of two of Taylor, Morris, Suamataia, and Moore bookending the line. He falls into a perfect situation, though, where, sure, plenty of question marks remain on the depth chart, but there are plenty of options who can man the spots effectively until Simmons is recovered and ready to compete and contribute. His fifth-year option gives him a bit of breathing room to show his worth before his rookie deal expires.
Simmons is just the first Chiefs rookie to sign their contract. The team has six more players from their draft class that still need to ink their deals.
