Breaking Down Manti Te'o's Pro Day Workout

Manti Te'o used his pro day to slightly improve on the 40-time he posted at the NFL combine. This workout will have little impact on the status of his draft stock. The truth is the reactions to his underwhelming combine performance were over the top.

In this article, NFL Network's Bucky Brooks talked about how Te'o's disappointing combine performance could raise questions within the scouting community:

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"With most coaches still curious about his lateral skills and explosiveness, Te'o will need to put on a better performance at his pro day workout to retain his upper-level spot on draft boards across the league."

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Reports vary on the recorded 40-times at Te’o’s pro day, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported an official time of 4.71.

This number compares favorably to some of the performances by other notable linebacker prospects. The picture below shows the combine results from prospects like Rutgers' Khaseem Greene, North Carolina's Kevin Reddick and Georgia's Alec Ogletree.

These are some of the linebacker prospects Te'o is competing with as far as draft position is concerned. The thing that separates Te'o from these other prospects is his top-notch instincts.

Bleacher Report's Michael Schottey said it best in the below tweet:

The realistic result of his workout is that Te’o cemented his status with each evaluator. Those who watched Te’o play saw a player who lacks elite speed. However, he made plenty of impact plays despite this perceived weakness.

In fact, his willingness to go out and run another 40-yard dash speaks volumes about his competitiveness. He knew that he wasn’t going to dramatically improve on his combine performance.

Te’o won’t be drafted by a team based on his 40-time, but because of his production on the field.

In an article written by Yahoo's Jason Cole there's a quote from a NFL defensive coordinator who specifically points to film study as the base of his evaluation.

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"It's one thing to get your butt whipped, it's another thing to get manhandled. He got manhandled. You can do all these pretty drills that you want and he can run whatever time he runs, but that's what I see every time I watch that game."

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However, there's some in the media world who continue to put a lot of stock in individual workouts. ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has a strong belief that Te'o needed this solid performance to remain in the middle-first round mix.