On Thursday, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid brought favorable news to the podium as the club closed down for the summer: He confirmed both wide receiver Rashee Rice and offensive tackle Josh Simmons should be full participants at the start of training camp in late July.
Rice missed the rest of the season after a Week 4 knee injury against the Los Angeles Chargers. Simmons slid to the Chiefs at pick No. 32 because of the patellar tendon tear he suffered at Ohio State in mid-October — a setback that continues to look like it created a bargain for Kansas City.
Reid added that given his recovery progress, Simmons could potentially start Week 1 for the Chiefs — if he can win the job against veteran Jaylon Moore.
“You can see [Simmons’] athletic ability; you can see his want-to,” said Reid. “He’s got a great attitude. He’s approached everything the right way, plus a little bit extra. You could tell if you just want to look at his rehab, you can see that he had a mindset that, ‘I’m going to get in there. It’s not going to be training camp. It’s going to be now.’”
On Wednesday, Simmons told reporters he is sometimes rehabbing two or three times a day to be ready.
“He worked his tail off to get there,” continued Reid of Simmons. “So you respect that part of it. He’s done a nice job in there, he’s worked well, and we’ll just see. We’ll see what training camp does. Some of it is different when things are flying fast up there, and you’ve got full contact and pads on. We’ll see how he does.”
Tight end Jared Wiley, who tore his ACL during a November practice, dressed for mandatory minicamp but was limited throughout. Reid is also optimistic about his status.
“I think we’re going to be OK there,” said Reid of Wiley. “He got some work here the last couple of days, so I think we’ll be fine there.”
All of the Chiefs’ players report to St. Joseph for training camp on July 21. Behind a productive offseason, Reid has opted to forgo the usual opening week of camp that includes three practices for quarterbacks and rookies.
