The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t have many surprises on the 53-man roster, but there was at least one big surprise on the offensive side of the ball.

After four seasons with the team, the Chiefs released former third-round draft pick Lucas Niang, who landed on the practice squad. In his place, they opted to keep Ethan Driskell, the 24-year-old undrafted rookie out of Marshall, on the 53-man roster.

I was one of the few to keep Driskell in my 53-man roster prediction and here’s why I chose to do so:

“Driskell will be scooped on waivers if you release him because the movement skills for his size can’t be taught. He needs some refinement, but this is a player that I think will be much better by Week 8 than he is right now.”

What went into the Chiefs’ decision to keep Driskell on the 53-man roster? It appears I was on the right track with my thinking. . .

Brett Veach explains why the Chiefs kept Driskell on the 53-man roster

Chiefs GM Brett Veach was asked about keeping four rookie offensive linemen on the 53-man roster. Andy Heck’s success with players like Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith during their rookie campaigns certainly helped, but Driskell’s rare athleticism was central in their decision to keep him.

“(Ethan) Driskell is just one of those types of players that has rare physical traits,” Veach said. “He’s a big guy. He’s athletic. Again, like (C.J.) Hansen, there’ll be some anchoring issues and there’ll be some weight issues early on.”

At 6-foot-8 and 313 pounds, Driskell has movement skills that you simply cannot teach. That was one full display throughout training camp and during the preseason.

Veach knew that he wouldn’t be the only one to see that.

“He was a guy that I think it was rough the first preseason game, and then it got a little bit better, and then it got a little bit better, and then you can see him grow and get more confidence in practice,” Veach explained. “And you know, one of the hard parts of it is, if you see that, there’s certainly another team seeing that and then we bring a player in here, and we work with him, we develop him, we go through the rough patches, and then all of a sudden to have him break free on the waiver wire. Someone’s getting a young player under rookie contract with a ton of work that we put into it. And so I think there’s always that desire to see it through to the end. And, again, Coach (Andy) Heck has done this with many players over the years.”

While the Chiefs could have taken the risk, seven of 24 players claimed during waivers last year were offensive linemen. This year four of 26 players claimed during waivers were offensive linemen. Basically, the risk of trying to sneak a player onto the practice squad with such rare athletic traits and strong progression was not worth it for Kansas City. Should he continue the track he’s on, he’ll be a much better player by the time the middle of the season rolls around and could even find himself contributing sooner rather than later.