Kansas City, MO – October 17, 2025
For seven long days, nobody in Kansas City knew where he was. His locker stayed untouched, his helmet sat quietly on the shelf, and the energy in the Chiefs’ facility felt just a little emptier. Coaches wouldn’t explain, players wouldn’t speculate, and fans could only whisper one uneasy question:
Where is Josh Simmons?
At first, social media filled with wild theories. Some wondered if it was a secret suspension. Others thought it was an injury gone unreported. But beneath all the noise, one truth remained — Josh Simmons had vanished, and even his teammates didn’t know why.
On Friday morning, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach stepped before reporters with a heavy look on his face. The silence that followed was different this time — not cautious, but solemn. Veach exhaled slowly before speaking. The words that came next silenced every rumor.
Josh Simmons hadn’t abandoned the team. He had gone home — to be with his mother, who was in critical condition, fighting a hereditary illness that had already affected his grandmother years ago.
Veach’s voice trembled slightly as he said, “He wasn’t lost — he was where he needed to be. Beside his mom. Family comes before football. Always.” The room went quiet. Phones stopped recording. For a brief moment, every person there stopped thinking like a journalist — and felt like a human being.
Simmons’ journey has never been one of privilege. He grew up in a small apartment in California, raised by a single mother who carried the entire family on her shoulders. His grandmother was the heart of their home until she fell ill with that same hereditary condition. When the illness worsened, his mother took on everything — cleaning offices in the morning, serving coffee in the afternoon, stocking shelves late into the night — just to afford her mother’s treatments and raise a son with dreams bigger than their circumstances.
Josh remembers those nights clearly — hearing the door creak open after midnight, watching his mother drop her keys on the table, exhausted but still smiling. “You don’t owe me anything, Josh,”
she’d whisper. “Just make it someday — that’s enough.”
Those words carried him through Ohio State, through the pressure of being a first-round draft pick, and onto the bright stage of the NFL. So when his mother fell ill, with the same condition that once broke his grandmother’s strength, he made the only decision his heart could accept. He packed his bag, texted Coach Andy Reid —
“Coach, I’m sorry. I have to go home.” — and disappeared from the headlines. Not out of neglect. Out of love.
Inside the Chiefs’ locker room, the response was instant. Mahomes gathered the team for a private prayer. Travis Kelce posted
#PrayForJosh with a single red heart. And fans from across the league joined in — Raiders fans, Broncos fans, even Eagles fans — leaving thousands of messages of strength, empathy, and faith for a 22-year-old rookie they’d never met.
Brett Veach later reflected on what Simmons represents to the Chiefs: “Football teaches us discipline and courage. But Josh reminded everyone in this building that compassion is just as important. He showed us what it truly means to fight — not for glory, but for love.”
Simmons is expected to return to the team once his mother’s condition stabilizes. His locker remains untouched — the nameplate still gleaming under the fluorescent light, as if waiting for his next chapter to begin.
And when that day comes, he won’t just return as a player protecting his quarterback. He’ll return as a son honoring the two women who taught him what resilience really means.
Because sometimes, the toughest battles aren’t fought on the field — they’re fought at home, with love, faith, and family.
