Manti Te’o is now hoping to sign his third contract, but injuries and 37 missed games in 6 seasons may serve as a deterrent for those interested.
Inside Linebacker Manti Te’o is a free agent entering his seventh season in the NFL, looking to finally make a breakthrough in the league. Since his scandal-filled, Heisman-nominated senior year at Notre Dame, Te’o started with the San Diego Chargers in 2013. There, he never completed a full season due to multiple foot and knee injuries and the Chargers were 19-19 when he was active.
In 2017, Te’o signed a two-year, $5 million deal with the New Orleans Saints, and even though he made it through his first season uninjured, by the 2018 season, Te’o was hit with a minor injury again that saw him fall down the depth chart, as by Week Seven he began becoming a healthy, inactive bench player for the NFC Championship-bound team.
Te’o is quoted as telling the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “The best thing about this whole situation (in New Orleans) … is that it made me self-evaluate…that little extra [motivation] is that thing that reminded me of what it took to be the best before I got here. And I know that I can be that for somebody. Whether it’s (in New Orleans) or whether it’s somewhere else, if they don’t know (now), they’ll know.”
So far, Te’o has amassed 313 tackles and 22 for losses in his career. However, Te’o is no longer a younger player in need of development or entering his first or second contracts; he is now a 28-year-old free agent looking for a third deal without having made much of a splash so far in his professional career. He only has four quarterback hits, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble, and two interceptions, none of which came after his third season.
Some of what Te’o can bring, however, is experience. He has played his entire career in 3-4 systems, the first four seasons including his best statistical year (2015) coming with current Houston Texans Senior Defensive Assistant Coach John Pagano as Defensive Coordinator. His linebackers coach in 2015, Mike Nolan, joined Te’o in New Orleans in 2017, when he appeared to come out and start well under defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s system. Still, despite spending most of last season on the bench, Pro Football Focus ranked his Week One performance of four solo tackles for no gain in the Saints’ Top 10 defensive outputs of the year.
Between ex-Chargers Head Coach Mike McCoy, Saints Coach Sean Payton, and the aforementioned Allen, Nolan, and Pagano, there are numerous coaches around the league with similar systems that Te’o could play for. For example, as a former head coach Nolan has employed new New York Jets coach Adam Gase and new Arizona Cardinals Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph, and McCoy spent last year in Arizona as the Offensive Coordinator for now-Cleveland Browns Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks. Plus, spending two years with the defending NFC South champion Saints could attract division rivals (like the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers) or Super Bowl hopefuls (like the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and Los Angeles Rams) to sign him just to gain insight on the competition, if anything.
That said, it’s no guarantee that Te’o is signed within the first month of the league year. After spending half of his career to this point on sidelines, Te’o wants to be on the field as much as possible, and it’s unclear what price tag will sway his mind or satisfy him to possibly accept less playing time. Teams also offer very low guaranteed amounts to players with the history of injuries and limited experience as Te’o has. In addition, this year’s draft is stuffed with top front seven prospects and the free agency market is crowded as well. Fellow inside linebackers C.J. Mosley, Jordan Hicks, Denzel Perryman, Preston Brown, Kelvin Sheppard, Kwon Alexander, and Ray-Ray Armstrong are also free agents still on the market. That doesn’t bode well for Te’o, who may be competing for a training camp spot come this summer. However, his agent Tom Condon is recognized for his ability to negotiate player-favoring deals and has a lot of points on his side to use.
As of now, the Saints are retaining 3 other inside linebackers – Demario Davis, Alex Anzalone, and A.J. Klein – so it appears Te’o will be moving on somewhere else to find success and acclaim in the NFL, which is a storyline that sums up this off-season for many others. I don’t believe we have seen all the Hawaiian native has to offer, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him. Teams close his San Diego residence like Arizona or the LA Rams, or playoff-ready like the Texans or Eagles should come calling by April.
References:
https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2019/02/28/sports/free-agent-to-be-teo-eager-to-disprove-doubters/
https://twitter.com/pff_saints/status/1102329147630718984?s=21
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/inside-linebacker/available/
http://walterfootball.com/freeagents2019ILB.php
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