Jets Exec Terry Bradway Admits Manti Te'o 'Scares You A Little Bit'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A senior Jets executive says the situation surrounding Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o is "unusual" and "scares you a little bit" in the upcoming NFL draft.
Jets senior personnel executive Terry Bradway gave his straightforward assessment in a post-combine video interview posted to the Jets' official website.
Te'o failed to impress at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, running a slow 4.82 seconds in the 40-yard dash. All eyes were on the 22-year-old in the wake of the fake-girlfriend hubbub.
"Well, it is an unusual situation, that's for sure. I feel bad for him," Bradway said. "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. ... You know, he's a good football player and 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."
Te'o didn't meet expectations in the aforementioned BCS title game against Alabama in January -- a 42-14 loss in which the linebacker missed several tackles.
Te'o said he learned his believed-to-be-deceased girlfriend wasn't real in early December.
"And 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 say, 'Exactly what do we have here?' " said Bradway. "It'll be interesting to see where he's drafted."
Te'o was thought to be an early first-rounder before Deadspin broke the hoax news, and some predicted he'd go to the Giants at No. 19. Leading up to the combine, Te'o said he was hopeful the scandal wouldn't affect his draft stock.
The Jets have the ninth overall pick in April's draft.
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