As the NFL combine came to a close on Monday, many players, teams and fans still may have more questions than answers. Several teams are working on trades that will likely impact both the draft order and who they end up drafting. It has basically been confirmed that Alex Smith will be traded to the Chiefs, which opens up their options with the number one overall pick. As GM’s scramble to get deals done and more free agents are on the market, the NFL offseason is in full swing. As the countdown to the NFL Draft on April 25^th begins, let’s take a look at the winners, losers and story lines from the combine…

The Good
There were many people who improved their draft stock with the combine. Here are a few highlights:
– Tyrann Mathieu, who didn’t play this past season after being dismissed by LSU,probably had the most to prove at the combine. The ‘Honey Badger’ was fast, agile and could be a good return man and slot corner. He did well with the questions about his past and I expect a team to use a late round pick on him.
– Ezekiel Ansah from BYU (and also a former track star in Ghana) is a defensive end who is short on experience but big on speed and talent. Although he didn’t start playing football until 2010, he’s very athletic. Yes, he’s still a raw talent but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him taken in the first round of the draft.
– The wide receivers that ran in the combine were very fast. Five prospects broke the 4.4 mark for the 40 and would add speed to teams that need it. Marquise Goodwin out of Texas even flirted with breaking the record with a 4.27 time. Also a member of the US Track & Field team last year, there is no doubt that many GM’s are salivating at the prospect of adding that kind of speed and deep threat to their squad.

The Bad
Unfortunately, this refers to both how prospects did and news received. First, Star Lotulelei from Utah was a lock to go in the top 10 on most draft boards, some even thought he could be the first overall draft pick. He was diagnosed with a heart abnormality at the combine, and wasn’t able to complete in the drills. They are doing more tests to see what’s going on (some say it was just from being dehydrated) and the further tests and his pro day will loom large for his draft potential. My one question if there is indeed something wrong with his heart – how is that not found until now with all the physicals, etc that college athletes go through? Next, Collin Klein from Kansas State was asked to work out as a tight end for the combine but chose to workout as a quarterback (his college position) instead. Many question his ability to play QB in the NFL and his combine results put him in the middle to the back of the pack for QB’s – not good for quieting the skeptics. Ultimately, I do believe he will have to play another position if he wants to play in the league. Finally, Alec Ogletree from Georgia didn’t help put character questions to rest (multiple suspensions in college for criminal activity) when he got a DUI just days before the combine (you know my feelings when it comes to athletes and DUI’s).  Once considered the best MLB in the draft, based on these troubles plus his combine performance, Ogletree’s draft stock has dropped to the end of the first round.

The Te’o
The largest spotlight of the combine was on Manti Te’o – to see how he did both on and off the field. By this point, we’ve all heard at what happened…He was beloved for what he played through last season, then we find out he was catfished and the girlfriend was a hoax, and he’s been on a press tour about it since then. I’ve watched his first interview with Katie Couric, checked out episodes of the “Catfish” TV show, and read dozens of articles on the topic since the news broke in mid-January.

When the news first broke, I found it particularly interesting to hear what people calling in from Provo, Utah had to say. When Te’o was being recruited by BYU, he led everyone to believe that’s where he would be playing and apparently was even interviewed there before surprising them and signing at Notre Dame. Based on accounts I heard, it sounds like the Te’o family may have shaky moral ground to stand on after a Mormon from Hawaii decided to play at a Catholic school in the Midwest. Regardless, I had never heard much of him until this past season – and schools I follow play ND annually. When the news broke of his grandmother and girlfriend passing within hours of each other, the sports world felt compelled to show compassion to him. Conveniently, this also catapulted his Heisman campaign. He played well this season, but didn’t have crazy numbers. Other linebackers with similar seasons to him in the past weren’t on the national radar – but Manti Te’o was thanks to having to play through all this pain. I know several Heisman voters who supported him have said that they would like their vote back since it was based on how he played given his circumstances. However, the awards he received remain – it doesn’t matter at this point why he got them.

As the story unfolded, teammates came out and said they doubted him at times, that there were other girls in his life there, and that they were hurt at the attention he got for losing a loved one when it was not the same for others on the team. Obviously, all of these comments can only be taken at face value because kids can get jealous or choose to embellish things in order to get an interview.  It also seems that the story of how they met and the relationship is much muddier that then fairy tale he and his father told the national media over and over again. Suddenly, “catfishing” has become a well-known term (I had to look it up and then watched some episodes to get a better understanding of it – man, those people are twisted) and the story of what happened continued to change. Overall, part of me wants to feel bad for this guy. I do believe that he wasn’t part of this, but also wonder how anyone can be that naive – and how a guy in college can be in an exclusive relationship for that long without ever meeting the person. Maybe he was seeing other girls on the side, who really knows. Interestingly, it has went from being a 4 year relationship to only dating her for a year as more truth came out. But, I do have a few issues with it all:
– He always referred to her in a sense that he had met her and talked about seeing her again someday. I don’t like having my heartstrings tugged on with a sad story only to find out it was embellished.
– I understand that he must have been rocked by the phone call on December 6^th and didn’t want it to be a distraction before the National Title Game. However, he shouldn’t have answered any questions about her after that point, let alone repeat the story in interviews, and his family should have broke the news before it came out the way it did.
– Finally, the fact that he tailored the stories he told to his family and the media disgusts me. He made everyone believe that they had a much more intimate relationship that the reality of this online relationship. We were told a fairy tail of how they met and he also received attention and awards (in my opinion) because of the stories he told.
I get that he was embarrassed about all this, anyone would be. However, the way he handled it is very questionable. Telling bold face lies to friends and family while also embellishing stories in interviews does not speak strongly to one’s character. It also brought up glaring deficiencies in the way the media handled things, and took stories as facts when they couldn’t find the research the back it up. It will definitely change the way reporters handle such instances moving forward.

Nonetheless, questions remain regarding Manti Te’o – both the man and the football player. When he came to the combine, I don’t think anyone was surprised that he was good at the podium and in interviews. He’s a book smart guy and was well prepared for the questions he would receive those days. Even with all the press work that has been taking place, GM’s will have to take a long look at his character before adding him to their team. Still, the football side of things are now where the lingering questions lie. Before this all came out, the way he played in the National Championship Game made many question his draft stock based on they way a tough opponent pushed him around (and now we know he was likely playing distracted, but athletes have to play through distractions regularly). Then, for as impressive as he was in interviews, he’s become a joke based on his 40 speed. His 4.82 was 20^th out of the 26 linebackers who ran it (which he had dropped weight for), didn’t do some lifting because of the dropped weight, and wasn’t impressive in his broad jump. Yes, he was quick in the cone drills and not many LB’s need to run a sub-4.5 40, but this makes his pro day at Notre Dame even more important. Currently, he’s dropped to 21^st on the “big board” and some wonder if he could drop out of the first round based on limitations of when he could be used for the teams.