The Manti Te’o image rehabilitation project appears to be working.
The controversial Notre Dame linebacker’s stock, which dropped like a stone in the wake of his bizarre “dead fake girlfriend” tale and a woeful performance in the BCS title game, is back on the rise.
And at just the right time, too — four days before Thursday’s first round at Radio City Music Hall.
Te’o wisely declined an invitation to attend the draft in person, accurately predicting it would be a circus, but scouts say he has done much in visits with individual teams to ease major concerns about his psyche and terrible on-field showings against Alabama and at the scouting combine.
Much of the talk that Te’o could slip to the second or even third round appears to have dissipated, and the Giants — badly in need of a middle linebacker to help shore up their run defense — wouldn’t surprise many league insiders if they take him with the 19th overall pick.
Scouts say Te’o has been able to repair his image largely by coming across so well in team interviews and visits with individual clubs.
Several of those teams have been very impressed with Te’o’s humbleness, his willingness to answer their exhaustive list of questions about the girlfriend episode and his football smarts. Te’o also redeemed his poor combine performance with a much improved display at his pro day.
Of course, it helps that Te’o is represented by Tom Condon — one of the top agents in the sport — and had the powerful IMG agency to help him put together the best damage-control plan money could buy.
It appears Te’o did his part by following that plan to the letter, because he now has a lot of very public defenders in the form of NFL executives.
Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome, who is thought to covet Te’o with the final pick in the first round, testily defended him last week when asked about Te’o’s “issues.”
“Is that beating women? Is that using drugs? Is it DUI? How do you clarify that?” Newsome asked. “I couldn’t.”
* While everyone else in the first round seems to be trying to trade down, the 49ers are believed to be interested in trading up from No. 31 overall — perhaps all the way to the 13th overall pick the Jets landed in yesterday’s Darrelle Revis trade.
The Niners are overloaded with a league-high 13 draft picks (far too many to keep), and sources say they would like to move up to around the Jets’ second first-round spot to get a cornerback or a pass rusher along the lines of BYU’s Ziggy Ansah.
Whatever happens, keep an eye on San Francisco during Thursday’s first round. When it comes to trades, the Niners will be one of the few buyers in a decided buyers’ market.