Manti Te'o reflects on how 'catfish' incident led to the demise of former LB's NFL career
Former NFL linebacker Manti Te'o had one of the most bizarre stories coming out of college. As a top linebacker entering the 2013 NFL Draft, Te'o had an unusual catfish story that broke the internet, which he says eventually led to the demise of his NFL career.
In college at Notre Dame, Te'o had a fine career. In 2012 alone, he was named the winner of the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, Lott Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronco Nagurski Trophy, Butkus Award and Lombardi Award. He was also a unanimous All-American.
Right around the conclusion of the 2012-13 NCAA football season and right before the draft, it was revealed that Te'o was a victim of a catfish incident.
The linebacker had announced that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, had died on September 12. In January of 2013, Deadspin confirmed that Lennay never existed and that a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was involved in the hoax.
Appearing on the Ross Tucker podcast, Manti Te'o was asked if the catfishing incident affected his NFL career, to which he replied in this way:
"I know for sure it did for me and this is not an excuse, as you know, what happened, what happened to me and more importantly, how I digested it. You know, what I mean by that is what led to all of my success in college football and before that was my confidence in myself. You know, my competence and my abilities to make plays and my confidence in my abilities to diagnose plays. My competence in my abilities to lead men.
"That was what made me great and that's what makes the greats great is their confidence and when they step up on a field of court, whatever it is, that they know that they're better than that person. I didn't have that for three to four years of my NFL career."
Recapping Manti Te'o's NFL career
Despite dealing with the bizarre hoax coming out of college, Manti Te'o still played in the NFL for eight seasons.
As one of the nation's top linebackers entering the 2013 NFL Draft, Manti Te'o was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round.
He played with the Chargers from 2013-16 and had the most productive seasons with them in his first three years.
Te'o was then signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2017 and played with New Orleans for three seasons. In his first season with the team in 2017, he recorded the second-most tackles in a single season (62) of his career.
He was signed to the Chicago Bears' practice squad during the 2020 season, but never saw any time on the field. He hasn't played in the NFL since.
Manti Te'o has 307 tackles, 22.5 tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in his NFL career.