KANSAS CITY, Mo. — TCU tackle Lucas Niang didn’t give up a sack in an injury-shortened college career.
That’s good news for a Kansas City Chiefs team that ought to prioritize protecting the future of the franchise, quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Just two years ago, he was asked to block both (Nick) Bosa and Chase Young and did a pretty good job,” Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach said of Niang. “He’s a guy that can play some guard, too. We think he can come in right away.”
Veach said Niang has the potential to develop as a tackle as his career progresses — possibly being groomed as an eventual replacement for Eric Fisher or Mitchell Schwartz, who are both under contract with the Chiefs through 2021 — but he’ll get a crack to make an impact on the interior first.
It’s a transition Niang said he’d be open to, if it gets him on the field for the reigning Super Bowl champions.
“I’ll do whatever they need me to do,” Niang said. “You can only have a certain amount of offensive linemen, so I need to be versatile and I understand that. I’m willing to go anywhere and do whatever I got to do to help win.”
Niang — a 6-foot-7 and 328-pound prospect from New Canaan, Connecticut — played in 25 games, including 21 starts, for the Horned Frogs in 2017 and 2018, emerging as one of the Big 12’s top pass blockers as a junior.
Remaining at right tackle, Niang was limited to seven games as a senior after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip, an injury he said he suffered as a junior and tried play through “as long as I could.”
He said he finished the rehab process about a month ago and has since focused on strength and conditioning again.
“As soon as we put on the pads I’m going to be out there going," Niang said.
Niang has been able to work out at a family friend’s gym during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has shutdown many workout facilities and limited the opportunity for teams to interview and assess players.
But he always felt Kansas City would be a good fit, so he was thrilled to land with the Chiefs, who used their third-round pick Friday on Niang.
“Throughout the whole process, I liked them a lot, and I felt like it was mutual,” Niang said. “I’ve just been waiting, honestly, for the last two days for them to call me. I thought that was where I was going to end up.”
That didn’t make the moment he received a call from the Chiefs any less special and exciting.
“The call was crazy,” Niang said. “It was everything I’ve ever dreamed of, everything I’ve been waiting for my whole life. The anticipation was wild thinking I was going to end up there and then not knowing. I got the call a little bit before it even went on TV that they had the pick. It was crazy. It was everything I’ve been waiting for.”
The Chiefs value athletic offensive linemen for their zone-running scheme, preferring players who can move well, block in space and work to the second level to pick up linebackers or safeties down the field.
“I have a good base on me, good feet,” Niang said. “I do well in space. I can find a target and hit a target and stay on balance, so I think this is kind of the perfect system for me. I have a lot of practice at it as well.”
