NFL Execs on Manti Te'o's Draft Potential
Manti Te'o and fictional girlfriend Lennay Kekua are currently at the tip of everyone's tongues in wake of the recent death hoax scandal. However, many are wondering if this will ruin his chances in the NFL Draft this coming April.
According to Sports Illustrated, Te'o's poor performance in Notre Dame's BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama had already seemed to hurt the linebacker's draft stock. However, in light of the recent news, Don Banks and Jim Trotter over at SI.com took an anonymous poll of NFL executives and coaches to see their personal & professional opinions.
Here's a few responses from the SI article:
"I honestly don't know. I want to sit down with this kid and hear his interpretation."—NFL personnel executive
"Clubs are going to do their due diligence, they're going to do their homework, and they're going to find out who someone is. I'm not sure if a situation like this would affect someone's draft status. I think you would have to look to see what team is making the call. With some teams, the better player you are, the more they would let some things slide. And some teams, different things to them are red flags -- and red flags are not looked upon as good things when you're talking about your 'franchise' players. If he's your 'franchise' player, then you don't necessarily want to have red flags for those ... that are leaders and the face of your team."—NFL defensive coordinator
"There's so much time left to answer questions and to turn anything that could be negative into a positive. This is just the first chapter of the book. It would be silly to think you've read the epilogue.''—NFL club executive
