Jump to content

Te'o Impresses at Pro Day


flgreen

Recommended Posts


Te'o impresses at pro day

March, 26, 2013
Mar 26

6:17

PM ET

By Kieran Darcy | ESPNNewYork.com

Manti Te'o ran the 40-yard dash twice at Notre Dame's pro day on Tuesday with better results than his performance at the NFL combine last month.

ESPN's Bill Polian, a former general manager and president of three NFL teams, believe Te'o is in the mix to be a first-round pick after his performance Tuesday.

Could Te'o wind up with the Jets?

The answer is, not likely. Gang Green should have more attractive options available with the ninth overall pick. Although the Jets do like attention-grabbing players (see: Tebow, Tim).

ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay has Te'o being selected at No. 32 in his latest mock draft.

Fellow draft analyst Mel Kiper projects Te'o being selected at No. 19 -- by the New York Giants.

One final note on Te'o -- he's not planning to come to New York for the draft next month. Sources told ESPN that Te'o has turned down two separate invitations by the NFL.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pro day observers: Manti Te'o still not worthy of first-round draft pick

Jason Cole, Yahoo

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--pro-day-observers--manti-te-o-still-not-worthy-of-first-round-draft-pick-021735273.html

As a legion of NFL teams dutifully looked on, former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o did his best to convince them he's worthy of a first-round pick.

At least five teams remained unmoved.

"Nice player, but not worth a first-round pick. Not in my view," said an AFC personnel man who was on hand. "It's the old saying about, 'It only takes one team to fall in love with a guy.' "

Former Notre Dame player Manti Te'o participates in drills at pro day. (USA TODAY Sports) The personnel man then caught himself for a second, chuckled and said, "That's probably not the best phrase to use with Te'o, is it?"

While much of the dust has settled around Te'o regarding the odd tale of the girlfriend who never existed, the issue now is a much simpler one:

How good of a football player is Te'o? On Tuesday, he helped himself a tad by running between 4.71 and 4.75 in the 40-yard dash, much better times than he ran at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in February. He also benched 225 pounds a respectable 21 times.

Still, the question remains: Was Te'o, the leader of a Notre Dame squad that got to the national championship game, a creation of media hype?

In short, is he more Rick Mirer or Tim Brown?

"I think he can play and he can help your defense," an AFC head coach said. "But he's a two-down player on a good team. He's not a star. If I'm taking a linebacker in the first round, I want a guy who can change my defense. Trust me, I've been wrong about linebackers before, but this guy doesn't fit the bill of what I spend a high pick on."

[Related: Manti Te'o improves 40 time at pro day but questions remain]

The good news for Te'o is that most NFL people now consider the weird story of Te'o's phone relationship to a woman he never met who died and then turned out to be a man to be a mostly dead issue.

"Our security people checked it out because he’s still on our board. There's nothing more we can find from it," the AFC personnel man said.

Likewise, an NFC defensive coordinator said that much of the attention that went with Te'o in January has died to the point that teams aren’t concerned now.

"It's going to come up if you draft him and he's worth drafting. But it's like with everything in the NFL, 'What's the next story?' " the NFC defensive coordinator said. "If you take him, he answers the questions again, you answer the questions, it's done."

OK, so does that mean you take him in the first round?

"No, he's not good enough in my view. Now, I say that and we haven't finalized our board yet. But with the upside that I see and the needs that we have just on defense alone, I wouldn't recommend that," the defensive coordinator said. "If I'm taking an inside linebacker in the first round, I want a big, intimidating hitter who can play all three downs. I want a Patrick Willis or a NaVorro Bowman. Te'o is not in their class, not by a long shot."

[More: Matt Barkley, Marcus Lattimore get chance to impress scouts]

The problem for Te'o is that while he’s relatively athletic, he's not good enough to overcome superior players. He’s considered neither explosive enough nor quick enough to get through or around better blockers in the pros. The BCS title game performance against Alabama was a prime example.

"He got overwhelmed, just like the rest of the team," the AFC coach said. "It's one thing to get your butt whipped, it's another thing to get manhandled. He got manhandled. You can do all these pretty drills that you want and he can run whatever time he runs, but that's what I see every time I watch that game.

"I never saw that with Ray Lewis or Jonathan Vilma when I watched their tapes."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone expecting Te'o to be a Willis or Lewis is insane. That said, he's the best MLB in the draft and he's going to have a productive career for a long time. And these anonymous coaches and personnel people lose credence when it's not even known if their team is even in the hunt for a MLB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not even to mention that these guys will knock players in the media to hope that this player falls to them.

I'm a huge ND fan and want nothing to do with Te'o in the first two rounds. His 40 time is meaningless as far as I'm concerned, he's a MLB his shuttles are more important as well as heart and attitude and I think he's soft. It's not what you want in the defensive leader.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He tested out fine. He's more like Laurinitis than he is Maualuga. That's racist of you.

 

haha.  Didnt even put the 2 together.  That was a good one.

 

Laurinitis he is not.  That would require him to be good at something.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

haha. Didnt even put the 2 together. That was a good one.

Laurinitis he is not. That would require him to be good at something.

They say he's one of the best at reading and diagnosing plays. He also is solid in coverage. He'll be able to keep up with tight ends and he's a pretty solid tackler.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone expecting Te'o to be a Willis or Lewis is insane. That said, he's the best MLB in the draft and he's going to have a productive career for a long time. And these anonymous coaches and personnel people lose credence when it's not even known if their team is even in the hunt for a MLB.

 

Yes, I'm a big LSU fan, but I can be pretty objective when it comes to players on my team and I can safely say that Minter is easily the best MLB in this draft, hands down.  That's not saying Te'o isn't a solid prospect, he is, but I just don't think he has the every-down capability as a guy like Minter.  Out of all the players LSU has lost this year, the coaching staff has been rumored to be absolutely broken up that they couldn't convince him to stay for his senior year.  He's someone I was hoping would have dropped to the jets' second, but his play this year ruined any chance of that happening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I'm a big LSU fan, but I can be pretty objective when it comes to players on my team and I can safely say that Minter is easily the best MLB in this draft, hands down.  That's not saying Te'o isn't a solid prospect, he is, but I just don't think he has the every-down capability as a guy like Minter.  Out of all the players LSU has lost this year, the coaching staff has been rumored to be absolutely broken up that they couldn't convince him to stay for his senior year.  He's someone I was hoping would have dropped to the jets' second, but his play this year ruined any chance of that happening.

 

Most expert opinions that I have come across say it's Te'o then Ogletree and then Minter.  Most mocks have T'eo going before both too. I think both will be solid pros.  Also, I'm not sure where this not an every down LBer stuff comes from on T'eo. Dude had like 7 interceptions his senior season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How fast is better? And as I already said 40 times for ILB isn't as important as side to side quickness.

 

David Harris ran a 4.59 at the combine.  Three years later in the division championship game in a dead sprint he got chased down from behind by a 34 year-old, 300-lb Alge Crumpler.

 

:bag:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...