It felt as if the Kansas City Chiefs were destined to draft Josh Simmons with their late first-round draft pick this year. All of the mock drafts had the Chiefs taking Simmons and that’s exactly what ended up happening.
The Chiefs not only drafted Simmons, but they swapped spots with the Eagles and picked up a fifth-round pick in the process. The Chiefs needed to add help to their offensive line and Simmons gives them a potential future left tackle. The addition of Jaylon Moore in free agency allows Simmons time to fully recover from his injury before being thrown to the wolves on the o-line.
While discussing the Simmons selection on the latest edition of The New Heights podcast, both Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce raved about the pick. Jason echoed what several draft analysts had been saying in that had Simmons not tore his patella tendon, he’s likely the first tackle taken this year.
“This and the Eagles first round picks were two of the biggest steals in the draft. I’m not just saying that because they’re both our teams,” Jason said. “I really think if Josh Simmons doesn’t tear his patella tendon, he’s the first tackle off the board, most likely. The fact that the Chiefs got him at 32 could be unbelievable value if he comes back from the knee injury. We’re going to have to wait and see how this kid comes back from this injury. I mean, if he comes back from the knee, there’s a very good chance. This guy is very impressive.”
Travis then threw in his thoughts and tossed heavy praise Simmons’ way.
“I think it’s a signed, sealed, delivered, this guy’s going to be a Hall of Famer.”
Travis Kelce believes Josh Simmons has Hall of Fame written all over him
As mentioned above, the Chiefs signed Moore to be their left tackle for the 2024 season so there’s no rush with throwing Simmons out there. He has time to recover from his torn patella tendon and hopefully when his time to start comes, he’s ready for it.
While it’s certainly too early to be crowning any of the incoming rookies as Hall of Famers, hearing Travis say this about Simmons will surely fire fans up. As Jason said, depending on how Simmons comes back from the injury, people might look back at this draft and wonder how the Ohio State product fell to the final pick of the first round.
Hopefully, that’s a regret other teams have to live with while the Chiefs continue to flourish.