Here's the real story: Manti Te'o's stock in the NFL draft already was sinking. Blame his performance in the BCS title game, not any hoax or conspiracy, for that. Still, the uncertainty surrounding Notre Dame's All-American linebacker could further hurt his draft stock, NFL draft consultant Gil Brandt said. Brandt called the story "something I have never witnessed" in his half-century in pro football. "I think some teams will say it isn't worth the problem" to draft Te'o, said Brandt, who has the linebacker rated 19th overall in the first round. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/17/3187260/brandt-manti-teos-draft-stock.html#storylink=cpy
Teams may be less likely to take a risk on Te'o in the draft if they don't believe he can become a dominant player. Brandt noted how the inside linebacker position doesn't carry as much importance in the NFL as it once did. In the last 10 years, only four inside linebackers were taken in the first round, although one of them was perennial All-Pro Patrick Willis of San Francisco. "I think it would be different if it was a quarterback who would change the game," he said. "But linebackers are a piece to the puzzle; they don't solve the puzzle. Other than Ray Lewis, I don't know of any linebacker you say, 'We've got to have this guy.' "(Inside) linebackers are not as important as they used to be. We're down to one or two first-round linebackers now." Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/...-draft-stock.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy These quotes from Brandt illustrate a point I was making about the ILB position earlier. The impact of the position has to be a consideration in what you draft up high. It comes down to the evaluation. If you think Teo is the next Lewis or Willis, then you can justify taking him early. If you don't have him in that class then you're wasting a top pick on a lower impact position. As for his draft stock potentially taking a hit, of course it does. It's naive to think that some teams wouldn't have lower opinions on him if they think he's lying to them. If you're arguing otherwise than it's fairly clear that you're so in love with the prospect that you're not being objective.
Te’o fallout continues to simmer … We don’t know that much more this morning about the truly bizarre story about star Notre Dame Manti Te’o and his imaginary girlfriend. What interests us, of course, is how all this will affect his draft status and the fact is that know one will really know how that will play out until all the facts are known. What does appear to be the case though according to articles here, here, and and here is that Te’o’s stock was already slipping after a shockingly disappointing performance in the Irish’s national championship game loss to Alabama. It is also pretty clear that the current media attention on Te’o isn’t going to help. If for nothing else, he was going to be one of the most marketable players ever to come out of college; instead Te’o has quickly become a punch line on late-night talk shows that some teams may now be tempted to shy away fro fearing he could end up being a distraction much as Tim Tebow has become. http://www.gbnreport.com/ ----- If I were an NFL front office guy I think that the rationale/excuse that I'd most like to hear is simply that Te'o is gay and was trying to cover that up, that seems the most reasonable and acceptable excuse to me. The other options make him look far worse imo, just a combination of twisted, bizarre and scheming. More info is bound to come out, but in the meantime I think that to assume that this whole ridiculous episode won't affect his draft stock is shortsighted and wishful thinking.
The draft isn't for another 100 days. We're only in the 2nd day after the whole thing broke as a story. Is Manti Te'o still going to be a punchline 100 days from now? Or is everyone going to tire of talking about it closer to 20 days from now? I'm guessing the latter, and within months of the Draft you won't even hear this stuff mentioned again. People IMO generally lack foresight with respect to stuff like this. Everything is the right now, the immediate moment, and it's always huge and will always stay huge, etc. I don't think people generally have a great concept of what time does to perceptions.
The story won't be as big down the line, but if he lied (in his statement not originally since we know he lied then) and continues to lie to the teams at the combine then that will knock his stock down.
I think that sounds like the wishful thinking one would expect to be uttered from someone like Teo's agent. And I doubt it, I'm guessing that this stink will be with Te'o for quite some time, if not forever. This isn't a thug story to be compared to Ray Lewis, who is/was one of any number of thugs in the NFL. This is a story about bizarre behavior, manipulation and lying. If he was in on this and it turns out that he took part as a pr scheme to help him win the Heisman- then that is some outlandish behavior and the stink of it won't leave him anytime soon. If he's gay imo he should just come out, it's the only rationale that makes any sense to me. I were to draft him and was given a choice between either gay coverup or some pathetic plot to help him win the Heisman, I'd much rather him be gay and just try to close the story. And this story reeks- as Brandt said he has't seen the likes of it in 50 years of covering football. Unfortunately for Te'o, it's so bizarre that it's memorable as well.
I think it will be brought up every time they talk about him in regards to the draft, which I think will be pretty often. Maybe not so much on ESPN, but NFLN does so much draft coverage that I think you'll hear it brought up a bunch of times on there. He may be the Tebow of this year's draft, in the way that Mike Mayock publicly discusses how much he dislikes over-talking about him and not the other prospects.
I actually agree with you, but I think about a month prior to the Draft, if not sooner, the whole subject is just going to get old and when it's mentioned it will only be cursory. And if the vetting process from NFL teams doesn't turn up a pattern of disturbing behavior, it'll start to be mentioned by the pundits only so that they can specifically say it doesn't really mean anything to the NFL teams, and they'll be talking about how overblown it was, etc. And within months after the Draft, you may never even hear about it again.
Worst case scenerio is its a cheap publicity stunt to win the HT. He is a young kid who made an immature decision. I dont see this story influencing his draft postion very much. I love Brandts great prediction that it could lower his selection. Sure it could but its doubtfull unless he shows mental problems that look like they will lead to bigger problems. None of this is going to effect his ranking on a draft board.
The way he was manhandled by Alabama will depress his draft status much more than having a made-up girlfriend will.
Not really. Te'o isn't lazy, out of shape, and doesn't play like he is a loner on the field just doing whatever he wants.
Exactly. And how, pray tell, would that be worse than taking money to play college football? That's my question to all these ridiculous over-reactions.
Exactly. This is way, way, way, way more tame than Vontaze Burfict. Who, as padre points out, was actually a pretty damn good linebacker this year.
I don't know this is a unprecedented type of incident with a player. Anyone that drafts him will spend the entire offseason answering questions about him, ESPN and every media outlet will be in training camp covering every breath the guy takes. He's big news and I don't see it going away, I mean this story isn't just on a sports page or sports website, its a lead story on Yahoo, CNN, etc. Heck my wife asked me about this guy's story.......and she probably doesn't know if he plays football or cricket. If you don't think he's a future allpro then you probably drop him into the later round picks for your team, some owners probably don't want him on their roster at all at this point. Considering this weird story and one of the worst big game performances I've ever seen in the National Championship game his stock has taken a huge hit. Could he go in the first round, sure. Could he drop to the third round or worse? Sure.
Good luck with this disappearing quickly: "Te'oing meme becomes the latest viral sensation" http://now.msn.com/teoing-meme-mocking-manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-goes-viral?ocid=ansnow11 http://teoing.tumblr.com/ "With an air kiss or empty hug, Te'oing is Twitter craze" http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/18/us-usa-football-hoax-twitter-idUSBRE90H12L20130118
