Lucas Niang looks "tremendous" for rookie minicamp, Andy Reid says
Niang has no regrets after opting out of 2020 season and glad to be back on the field
Lucas Niang is hard to miss on a football field, his 6-foot-7, 328-pound frame towering over even over his fellow offensive linemen.
“He’s a big man, like really a big man,” said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid after the club’s rookie minicamp this weekend.
But Niang has been missing from the football field in Kansas City for the past nine months. He decided to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns on Aug. 6, one week into the club’s acclimation period leading into training camp. Three days of rookie minicamp this weekend marked his first opportunity on an NFL practice field since his decision to sit out last season.
“It felt great to be back on the field,” Niang said. “I've been around working out and I couldn't wait to get back, and I was working while I was home, too, so it was good to be back.”
The club supported Niang’s choice and he says he has no regrets about opting out, explaining he made a decision he felt was best for himself in the long term after speaking with doctors.
“My family said they were going to stand by me regardless of what I do,” Niang said. “I just didn't feel comfortable not knowing enough about the disease, it felt like the logical thing to do.”
Last season he spoke to coaches and teammates regularly, usually at least once a week. In his training sessions back home, Niang worked with his longtime friend Brett Yarris, a behavior analysis and fitness expert. As evidenced from videos of his training posted on social media, Niang worked on his technique from both the right and left sides as well as at tackle and guard — “just to be ready to do guard if they needed me to do that,” he said.
“I was just working out four days a week, whether that be on the field or in the weight room stuff, but I did a lot of football stuff week in, week out,” he explained. “I was watching, I wanted to get back out there and stay sharp.”
Reid said it was evident Niang had put in the work during his time away from the club. The head coach saw signs of the raw talent, muscular athleticism and “these beautiful feet” that enticed the Chiefs to select Niang with a third-round draft choice in 2020.
“He actually came in better shape than he probably was last year, so that’s a plus,” Reid said. “You know he’s been doing stuff, and so he came in and looked like he got right back into it. For what we asked him to do, he was fine. He’s a very intelligent kid.”
The rookie minicamp provided a great opportunity for Niang to get back into the flow of things, but he said he didn’t feel the need to knock off any rust. The virtual meetings over the past few weeks and the limited introduction to the NFL he received last season paid dividends when he stepped back on the field.
“All of the plays and all of the thinking, it was way easier this year,” Niang said in looking back to his time in training camp last season. “I could focus more on my technique because I knew my assignments faster just having been through it one time.”
Last offseason the Chiefs viewed Niang as a potential starter at one of the tackle positions down the road who might start his career as a swing tackle or even a potential starter at guard as a rookie. The offseason renovation of the team’s offensive line changes that equation somewhat, with Niang expected to compete with Mike Remmers for the starting right tackle position. He could also land in the mix for the starting right guard spot. Either way, the Chiefs still don’t know exactly what they have in Niang.
“I look forward to getting him back in the pads at training camp and moving around and doing what offensive linemen do, the real football part of it,” Reid said.
The rookie minicamp is still a far distance from the starting lineup of the defending AFC champions. The limited number of players in camp didn’t allow for full team periods, and minicamps don’t permit contact or players wearing pads. “It’s rough on the O-line and D-line right now because they can’t hit anybody and do their thing,” Reid said. “It’s versus a bag.”
The head coach is looking forward to when Niang can take that next step at training camp.
“Like all players, that will be a challenge down the road for him to get back into that, but for right now, he looked tremendous for what we were doing, good recall there.”
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