Lucas

Niang

Niang last started an NFL game in 2021. He did, however, play plenty of special teams snaps for the Chiefs during their consecutive Super Bowl runs in 2022 and 2023. The Chiefs cut him at the end of training camp last year. He will be a depth piece for the Commanders if he makes their roster.

The 2020 third-rounder opted out of his rookie season to COVID and then started nine games last season before suffering a torn patellar tendon in his knee in Week 17. He’s still rehabbing that and will be out until at least Week 5. Andrew Wylie will open the season as the Chiefs’ starting right tackle.

It is not a surprising diagnosis after Niang had to be carted off the field early in the game. Niang was only playing because starting LT Orlando Brown suffered a calf injury in pre-game warmups. No longer the No. 1 seed following a disappointing loss, the Chiefs once again have questions along the offensive line.

Niang was filling in for Orlando Brown, who suffered a calf injury during pre-game warmups. With both out, the Chiefs have moved starting LG Joe Thuney out to tackle.

There are no surprises on Kansas City’s injury report. Niang only played 20% of snaps last week before exiting and was expected to miss tonight’s game. Andrew Wylie is listed as the Chiefs’ second-string right tackle.

Viewed as a potential replacement for Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Niang (6’6/315) will instead join the latter in voluntarily stepping away. He’ll return fresh in 2021 following hip surgery that kept him out of the Horned Frogs’ final five games of 2019, as well as the 2020 Senior Bowl and entire draft process. Veteran Mike Remmers and second-year OL Nick Allegretti remain the favorites to step in for LDT.

It’s impossible to know how healthy Niang (6’6/315) is after undergoing hip surgery that kept him out of the Horned Frogs’ final five games of 2019, as well as the 2020 Senior Bowl and entire draft process. He was a standout athlete prior to injury — his mother is an accomplished tennis player — and didn’t allow a single sack across 44 games as a three-year starter at right tackle in TCU’s zone-blocking run scheme. Niang’s pass pro footwork was inconsistent the past two seasons, but he does move smoothly out in space and flashes good body control when getting to the second level to create running lanes downfield. Niang could be the Chiefs’ starting right tackle of the future.

It’s impossible to know how healthy Niang (6’6/315) is after undergoing hip surgery that kept him out of the Horned Frogs’ final five games of 2019, as well as the 2020 Senior Bowl and entire draft process. He was a standout athlete prior to injury — his mother is an accomplished tennis player — and didn’t allow a single sack across 44 games as a three-year starter at right tackle in TCU’s zone-blocking run scheme. Niang’s pass pro footwork was inconsistent the past two seasons, but he does move smoothly out in space and flashes good body control when getting to the second level to create running lanes downfield. Niang could be the Chiefs’ starting right tackle of the future.

Niang (6'6/315) only appeared in seven games in 2019 due to a hip injury, and the medical reports will be a point of conversation for teams ahead of next month’s draft. He was one of the top tackles in the Big 12 in 2018, earning second team all-conference honors, and the tools required for him to be effective as a pro are there. “He plays with top-notch awareness and instincts in pass pro,” Zierlein wrote in his analysis of Niang. “But he’s an early opener in his pass sets and I’m not completely sold he can meet edge burners at the top of the rush on a consistent basis.” Niang could potentially be a Day 2 selection, at worst going early on Day 3.

The Titans just lost Jack Conklin to the Browns in free agency, putting them in the potential draft market for a replacement right tackle. Farbaugh sees Niang as a real option for Tennessee, noting that the 6-foot-6, 315-pound TCU lineman “fits the physicality that Mike Vrabel looks for in the trenches.” Niang has unfortunately been something of a ghost during the evaluating process due to his ongoing recovery from hip surgery. Farbaugh ticked off Isaiah Wilson, Josh Jones and Matthew Peart as three other logical candidates which could see a look from the Titans in April.