Anybody who thinks Manti Te’o’s draft stock is about to come crashing down this week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis needs to remember one name:
Lawrence Phillips.
The case of Phillips, the immensely talented but deeply troubled former University of Nebraska running back, tells you much of what you need to know about the NFL Draft. It illustrates, for example, that if a prospect can run, jump and bench press the requisite numbers, doesn’t consistently drool on himself or sink his teeth into somebody else (defensive linemen and linebackers excepted), some team will welcome him with open arms and a ready checkbook.
Phillips, it will be remembered, assaulted an ex-girlfriend among several scrapes with the law at Nebraska. And the St. Louis Rams still selected him sixth overall in the 1996 draft.
Te’o’s transgression, if you stretch to call it that, is he got hoodwinked in an online scam and then took his time being forthcoming about it. No laws or jaws were broken or public decency menaced.
The betting is that the Notre Dame All-American will still end up being a first-round pick when the draft begins April 25 and that the North Shore native’s 40-yard dash time will have more currency than any of the headlines of the past couple of months.
NFL teams care more about what he can do for them on third down. And for all the bizarre revelations, none of the soap opera that has surrounded him is likely to have eroded his speed and instinct.
“He’s still a first-rounder,” an NFL scout with more than 20 years in the business told the Star-Advertiser. The scout, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to publicly discuss players under draft consideration, said he expects Te’o to go in the mid-to-late first round.
To be sure, Te’o will be probed, prodded and minutely examined this week in Indianapolis, on and off the field. He has spent the past month at the IMG Academy in Florida preparing for more than just Katie Couric.
Prospective employers and media will want to see what makes him tick and inventory his weaknesses and vulnerabilities. They’ll want to understand how the hoax unfolded, what Te’o knew, when he knew it and what scars it left.
And, along the way, they’ll likely find what most people who have dealt with Te’o have come to understand that, despite the hoax, he is a rare individual; intelligent, articulate and driven to succeed.
“I didn’t have him above mid-first round even before all that stuff (hoax revelations) happened,” the scout said. He said Te’o — or any linebacker — would have to exhibit a great ability to rush the quarterback to be considered a top-10 pick. Meanwhile, the scout said, the national title game loss to Alabama accentuated an opinion that some in the NFL already held, that Te’o tends to over-pursue.
Barring any planet-shaking revelations or retreats into the fetal position, NFL talent appraisers will no doubt conclude what they have surmised all along. Te’o will be a valuable asset for somebody needing a linebacker.
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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
