Ecstasy and validation!
New Canaan’s Niang, UConn’s Peart excited to head to NFL after being picked on second day
The son of a decorated tennis player who lived in Switzerland before ultimately opening eyes at one of most storied Connecticut high school football programs and a former basketball player born in Jamaica received phone calls on
Friday night that they won’t soon forget.
With the second day of the NFL draft quickly winding to a close, it appeared as if Lucas Niang and Matt Peart might have one more restless night before realizing their dream of being NFL draft picks. Then in a span of about five minutes Niang was taken by the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs with pick No. 96 followed by UConn four-year starter Matt Peart being selected by the New York Giants 99th overall.
“I was very speechless,” Peart said on a video interview posted on the Giants official site. “Growing up in New York and having the chance to put on the blue (Giants uniform), it has always been a dream of mine.”
Niang, who didn’t allow a sack in his final two seasons at TCU, was ranked as the top player among the players with Connecticut ties by most draft experts. Green Bay made a bit of a surprise pick taking Boston College running back A.J. Dillon of New London late in the second round.
Niang made some history on Friday. With former New Canaan High star Zach Allen selected with the 65th pick in 2019, this is just the second time that players out of Connecticut high schools were top 100 selections in consecutive NFL drafts. Former Boston College offensive linemen and South Catholic High School graduates Dave and Doug Widell were picked 94th and 41st in the 1988 and 1989 drafts.
Niang was thrilled to be chosen by the reigning Super Bowl champions.
“Throughout the whole process I liked them a lot and I felt like it was mutual,” Niang said in a conference call with the media shortly after being selected. “I’ve been waiting the last two days for them to come and pick me, I thought that was where I was going to end up. The call was crazy, it was everything I ever dreamed of, everything I’ve been waiting on my whole life. The anticipation was wild thinking I was going to end up there and not knowing and then 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.”
Brett Veach, Kansas City’s general manager, suggested that the 6-foot-6, 315-pound Niang could start off at guard.
“I think right off the bat he’ll have a chance to contribute and compete at guard,” Veach said. “You do like the fact that this guy is extremely smart, intelligent but we’ll play best-case scenario that we are able to start training camp on time, I think you would see him pop right in there at guard. (Offensive line) Coach (Andy) Heck does a great job of letting guys work in at guard with the 1s and 2s and tackles a little bit with 3s and that is kind of what you would see.”
Peart joins fourth overall pick Andrew Thomas to give the Giants two of the top offensive tackles in the draft class.
Thomas and Peart trained together at the EXOS training facility in Florida and were in the same group during NFL scouting combine.
“He is a great tackle and he is very fundamentally sound,” Peart said of Thomas, the fourth overall pick. “I definitely learned a lot from him in the (short) time I had with him.”
Thomas figures to step in immediately but it remains to be seen how long it takes Peart to break into the lineup.
“It’s rare to describe someone as 315 pounds and skinny but that’s what he is,” Giants coach Joe Judge said in a story posted on the Giants official site. “He’s an athletic guy, he has a lot of length to him. We feel good about his character and his work ethic. He’s excited to come on in here and work hard and we can’t wait to get him on the field.”