I guess it wasn't entirely untrue. Niang had hip surgery toward the end of his last year in college. He had played through the injury for awhile but the pain got to be too much. So, if he had not opted out of his rookie year, the question would have been how long until he was ready to play. And the Chiefs were planning to play him a guard. If he can stay healthy and become a solid RT then this was probably the best thing for the Chiefs, IMO.
https://arrowheadaddict.com/2020/08/...s-city-chiefs/