Commanders went back to the Chiefs well again for OL help

Perhaps a three-time Super Bowl champion could an upgrade for Washington's depth chart.
Kansas City Chiefs v Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs v Los Angeles Chargers | Ric Tapia/GettyImages

It didn't take long for the Washington Commanders to fill a crucial roster hole. Just 24 hours after offensive lineman Nate Herbig's retirement was announced by head coach Dan Quinn, Washington signed Lucas Niang.

The details of the agreement were not made public in the team's announcement on Friday but Niang, 26, joins the team after spending the last four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 2020 third-round selection out of TCU made nine starts, all in 2021, and appeared in a total of 33 games for the team. He missed all of 2024 with a torn patellar tendon. It's not a lot to go on but, hey, a three-time Super Bowl champion is a three-time Super Bowl champion.

Commanders' new addition at offensive line reunites with Chiefs teammates

Niang will be seeing some familiar faces upon his arrival in the nation's capital. He was teammates with offensive lineman Nick Allegretti and Andrew Wylie while in Kansas City.

He'll have the same challenges Herbig faced in training camp, trying to earn the backup spot to Sam Cosmi who may or may not be healthy enough to start Week 1 while he continues to recover from a torn ACL.

Niang's advantage in this new situation is his ability to play tackle as well as guard. That provides him more potential security and his coaches more options when deciding how to weave him into Washington's system.

The Commanders have multiple tackles at camp, including Laremy Tunsil, Josh Conerly Jr., Trent Scott and Andrew Wylie. Tunsil, Conerly and Wylie look to be locks to make the team's 53-man roster

Either way, Niang be a much welcome addition to the Commanders' offensive line depth. They're going to need all the protection they can provide star quarterback Jayden Daniels if they want to build upon the expectation-exceeding performance they gave last year.