Left Tackle Returns For Chiefs, But Key Receiver Still Out

The Kansas City Chiefs got some good news on the offensive line front as left tackle Josh Simmons returned to practice on Wednesday, according to a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. 

The Chiefs have been razor thin up front so far, and at times it’s shown. The player who stepped in for Simmons is rookie Kahlil Benson, who’s been excellent as a run blocker, but Benson never played the position in college at Indiana, so he’s still finding his way as a pass blocker. 

The development of Benson will allow the Chiefs to give Simmons time to acclimate, with coach Andy Reid saying the Chiefs were “just going to ease him back in.” Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been taking a lot of hits early on, though, so there will probably be a lot more urgency to this than the Chiefs are letting on. 

One thing that’s been hiding the warts up front has been the play of Kenneth Walker III, who’s been making plays and having an MVP-caliber season. Walker has been able to get yards on his own, and that’s something the Chiefs haven’t had in recent years. 

The news wasn’t all good, though. The Chiefs’ mid-week injury report also included an update about receiver Rashee Rice being out of practice, as Rice hurt his hamstring against the Las Vegas Raiders, according to Alper. Rice came into camp struggling with a knee injury after missing OTAs and missing camp, and he was limited for much of training camp. 

That will undoubtedly fuel more speculation about the position group as a whole and what the Chiefs intend to do to shore it up. Kansas City also lost speedy wideout Tyquan Thornton against the Raiders due to a dislocated ankle, and he’ll be about for at least three months with surgery on the docket for him. 

All of this is tied into reports linking the Chiefs with former star receiver Tyreek Hill, but there’s nothing happening there at the moment. Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has been trying to drum up interest in his client for a couple of weeks now, but Hill was just convicted of a pair of battery counts in his recent civil suit trial, which just ended Tuesday.

The Chiefs have also been linked to several free-agent receivers, but there’s no firm news there, as it looks like Kansas City will wait until after this Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers to assess the market going forward.