The Jets are afraid of catfish.
In an interview with the team’s website following the NFL Scouting Combine, Jets senior personnel executive Terry Bradway said Manti Te’o “scares you a little bit” and made it clear the Jets have no plans to draft the former Notre Dame linebacker with the ninth pick in the first round.
Te’o helped lead the Irish to the national championship game against Alabama, but was exposed as being somewhat less than the sum of his press clippings. He has become even more well known in recent weeks after it was revealed his girlfriend, who was said to have died of cancer in October, never really existed, in a scenario straight out of the MTV show “Catfish.”
Te’o and those close to him have contended he was the victim of a cruel hoax and the 22-year-old handled himself well when he met the media last week at the combine. His performance in Indianapolis, however, left much to be desired after he ran a lackluster 4.82 in the 40-yard dash. Still, he is projected to be a late first-round pick.
“It’s an unusual situation, that’s for sure,” Bradway told the website. “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 at his pro day at the end of [March].
“He’s a good football player. 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. … It has caused everybody to go back and re-watch and see what we have here. It’s going to be interesting to see where he’s drafted.”