Watch your back Tony Moeaki.
Steve Maneri is coming for you.
From Josh Looney, via Twitter:
"#Chiefs OT Steve Maneri changed jersey to No. 87 & has been moved to TE on official roster. Maneri played TE at Temple/caught 1 pass in ’11"
That’s right folks. The 6-6, 290 Maneri is now a TE.
The good news is that he automatically moves past Jake O’Connell on the depth chart.
The bad news is that the Chiefs obviously think Maneri is so useless as a tackle, on a roster that contains Barry Richardson nonetheless, that they think his best shot to make the team is at TE.
Maneri actually lined up as a TE for one play against the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. He did more on that one play for the Chiefs than “Shabby” Sabby Piscitelli did the entire season. He caught a ball and nearly crushed Steelers safety Troy Polamalu to death after a kneeing him in the head. This had a huge impact on the game. Polamalu being out gave the Chiefs a slightly better than a snowballs chance in hell of scoring more points and it likely prevented Tyler Palko from breaking the NFL record for interceptions in one game.
Maneri played a whopping 29 snaps in 2011 so all we know about him is that he is big and probably better at playing TE than Jake O’Connell.
You have to start somewhere.