Chiefs News: Three KC Chiefs players opt out of 2020 season

Chiefs news revolves around the opt out deadline being on Thursday and three members of the KC Chiefs making the decision not to play in 2020.

The NFL gave players the option of opting out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and three members of the Kansas City Chiefs have made the difficult decision to do so.

The Chiefs had the first player to opt out when Laurent Duvernay-Tardif decided it was in his best interest not to play and instead focus on working the frontlines throughout the pandemic. Damien Williams was the next player to opt out and did so because his mother has cancer.

The third and final opt out on the Chiefs was rookie third round pick Lucas Niang, who was the first and only rookie to make the decision not to play this year.

The NFL as a whole saw 77 players opt out of the 2020 season and only three teams didn’t have someone opt out, with the AFC West rival Chargers being one of those three teams.

Check out what’s trending in Chiefs news from around FanSided

• What Lucas Niang opting out means for Chiefs in 2020 [KC Kingdom]
• Long-term upside of Niang’s decision [Matt Conner, Arrowhead Addict]
• Chiefs 3rd round pick opts out of 2020 NFL season [Braulio Perez, FanSided]

Here’s what’s trending in Chiefs news from around the rest of the web

• The complete list of NFL players who have opted out [John Dixon, Arrowhead Pride]
• Kansas farmer plants massive Chiefs arrowhead logo [FOX4]

The 2020 NFL season will be unlike any season we’ve seen before and players opting out makes sense. Football is a game and a high-contact one at that. For someone like Damien Williams whose mother has cancer, contracting the virus could be deadly for his mother and he wisely chose to step aside.

Not that this aspect matters when you’re talking about a life or death situation, but the Chiefs have been fortunate that no major player has opted out (though if they did, hopefully fans would respect their decisions).

LDT and Williams were going to be starters in 2020, but the Chiefs have plenty of decent options to fill in along the offensive line and they drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the first round this year, so he’ll now be the starting running back.

Niang was an intriguing rookie because his chances of starting improved with LDT’s opt out, but now the Chiefs will at least have him under contract through 2024, so that’s a big positive.

These are strange times we’re living in and props to these players for making the decision that was best for them and their loved ones.