As Chiefs open training camp, battle at left tackle should strengthen this team
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs enter 2025 camp with open left tackle competition to protect Mahomes
- Rookie Josh Simmons and veteran Jaylon Moore lead the race for starting role
- Andy Reid expects a definitive starter to emerge by end of training camp
The Chiefs opened each season preceding their five Super Bowl appearances in the last six years with a different starting left tackle.
Last year alone, four different players started at the position that protects superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ blind side.
With players arriving at Chiefs training camp at Missouri Western State University to check in for the 2025 season, newcomers at left tackle — first-round draft pick Josh Simmons and free agent Jaylon Moore — bring hope for solidifying the position.
“You’re going to look for the best guy who can fill in that spot, and we can have a little consistency there,” coach Andy Reid said, standing outside the players’ dormitory on the eve of training camp. “We didn’t have that last year. Let’s work at it and see what we come up with.”
Whoever emerges, the Chiefs are seeking more football than either front-runner was able to provide his respective team last year. Simmons, the No. 32 overall pick, suffered a torn patellar tendon in his left knee in Ohio State’s sixth game last fall and missed the rest of the season.
But as minicamp concluded in June, Reid said Simmons would be “ready to go” when training camp started — and that he could become the starter.
Simmons remained in the KC area during the month between June’s minicamp and training camp.
“He stayed up here this whole break, working his tail off” Reid said. “And the way he finished (minicamp), it looks like he’s ready to go. We’ll keep an eye on him.”
Moore, who spent his first four season as the primary backup to Trent Williams with the San Francisco 49ers, signed a two-year, $30 million deal with the Chiefs this offseason.
“We’ve got some good candidates,” Reid said. “We’ll see where it goes.”
Chiefs brass are betting it will go to a better place than last year, when the team opened the season with rookie Kingsley Suamataia, Wanya Morris, DJ Humphries and Joe Thuney at tackle.
Suamataia is bidding to become the team’s starting left guard now. Morris will be angling for a roster spot as a backup. Humphries has signed with the Los Angeles Rams and Thuney, a Pro Bowl guard, with the Chicago Bears.
Reid said the Chiefs plan to have a starter in place by the end of camp.
“By the time you get out of this (camp), you’d like to have an idea who that is,” Reid said. “We evaluate these guys every play. We’ll see how it all sorts out.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM.