The Kansas City Chiefs are taking a flier on a defensive player.Â
The team announced it signed Tautvydas Kieras (a.k.a. TK).
The interesting part: Kieras has played zero snaps of football in his life. He threw the discus in college.
Exhibit A:
A Lithuanian track star, Kieras set the Mississippi State University school record in the discus throw in 2015, and was a two-time NJCAA national discus champion at Monroe College. He also competed in shot put.
The Chiefs list Kieras, 24, as a linebacker.
TK stands 6-foot-3, 271 pounds.
He took part in MSU's pro day last week, repping the 225-pound bench press 24 times, running an unofficial 4.69 40-yard dash, earning a vertical leap of 35 inches and a broad jump of 9-foot, 8-inches. His broad and vertical jumps were tied for the highest of any athlete measured at the pro day, per the Mississippi State school website.
Those numbers earned him a tryout with the Chiefs.
The history of players trying to leap into the NFL sans a football background is spotty at best -- the greatest successes being tight ends moving over from basketball -- but TK will get his shot to overcome the odds.
