Manti Te’o: Scrub or a Potential Defensive Legend?

According to ESPN’s Todd McShay, in his mock draft he has Manti Te’o, the once hyped and respected linebacker out Notre Dame, going to the Baltimore Ravens as the 32^nd overall pick in the first round.

While some are willing to give Te’o a pass because of his undeniably consistent resume throughout his college career (aside from his atrocious performance at the BCS National Championship); between his questionable naivety when it came to his involvement with a fake love interest to his lack of physical prowess at the NFL Combine, it’s hard to justify why Manti Te’o should be allowed to join an organization that takes pride in maintaining a dominant defense.

Any opportunity of Manti Te’o garnering any sort of attention because of his intangible leadership qualities has gone out the window.  Worse still, whoever Te’o goes to in the draft will continuously ridicule him for his ill advised mistake which as a result could effect Te’o’s mental psyche in a negative way that prevents him from being a stand out defensive force.

While it can’t be denied that the Ravens need to bolster their defensive front with a reliable linebacker since the departure of future Hall-of-Famer Ray Lewis, the fact of the matter is that Baltimore already has numerous free agents that are not only proven successes at the same position, but are also young enough to build upon their triumphs to become even more reliable.

Instead, the Ravens need to focus on securing a dominant free safety as Ed Reed will most likely depart ways with this franchise due to lack of financial space in which to secure him.

Even if he were to remain a Raven come next season, at some point (sooner rather than later) this team is going to at least want a new defensive force that can hold down the secondary just as effectively if not better than Reed once he finally does retire.

Eventually, Manti Te’o may be able to endure the constant verbal bashings, and may even be able to overcome his recent athletic shortcomings and prove to be a severely underrated draft pick just like Ray Lewis was back in the 90’s. 

However, until Te’o is able to unquestionably and adamantly prove that he has what it takes to overcome the critics disappointing perception of his physical abilities while crafting a mental fortitude that doesn’t bring his character into question, he is not only a waste of a first round pick, but quite frankly, a waste of time.