New York Jets Leery of Drafting Manti Te'o

Depending on who you talk to, Manti Te'o may have actually gotten some good news this week. 

New York Jets personnel executive Terry Bradway publicly admitted to being leery of drafting Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o. Bradway expressed his views of Te'o on the Jets' team website following the NFL combine in Indianapolis this week. The Jets exec pointed to Te'o's well publicized struggles against Alabama in the BCS champtionship game as well as his disappointing performance at the combine. 

"He's a good football player," said Bradway. "I know a lot of us gave him pretty good grades, but when you look at the Alabama game and you look at what's happened since, it just scares you a little bit. I know their whole defense struggled against Alabama - a lot of missed tackles - they're a good football team, but I think it's caused everybody to go back and re-watch and see exactly what we have here. It's going to be interesting to see where he's drafted." 

In all fairness, Te'o had a chance to remind team executives just why he was a Heisman favorite and once slotted to go high in the first round. His chance to escape (or at least bypass) his past dissolved when he ran a slow 4.82 in the 40-yard dash on Monday. Bradway addressed the time and whether the fake girlfriend controvery was a cause of it. 

"It's an unusual situation, that's for sure. I feel bad for him. I mean, the stress of the situation has to have had an impact on his training somehow. I think he's going to run faster than that at his pro day at the end of March," Bradway said. 

While it's doubtful that the Jets would've used their 1st rounder on Te'o anyway, fans have seen it as a mixed blessing. After all, would Te'o flourish on a Jets team widely regarded as the NFL's circus? With a mercurial head coach, a flailing quarterback and the enigmatic distraction called Tebow, Te'o may be breathing a sigh of relief on this one.