Notre Dame's Manti Te'o a Charger

[cvtower]

6th pick of the Second Round (from the Cardinals)

[Deja Vu U Monty]

Either love him or hate him. Your choice.

[aztecryan]

437 tackles. A bad national championship against a far superior team and a poor combine dropped his stock. If he ran a 4.6, he's likely a top 20 pick. Inside linebacker in the 3-4 with Butler and now Manti should be set for quite a while.

[Fishn'Aztec]

I'm hoping this turns out O.K. I have my doubts.

[therealeman]

The dumbest sonbitch alive.

[The Aztec Panther]

I HATE this pick. It is incredibly stupid.

First, the guy is a head case. He's an implosion waiting to happen.

Second, he's not a game changer. You don't use TWO picks to get a player like this. He isn't worth it.

Third, linebacker is NOT an area of dire need for the Chargers. Left Tackle, Defensive (Nose) Tackle, Defensive End, Cornerback, and Safety are all areas of much greater need for the Chargers.

So they waste a 4th round pick in trading up to get a head case, above average but not dominant, player who does not play a position of great need for the Chargers.

Dumbest pick in years for the Bolts. Absolutely asinine.

[aztecryan]

Wow, tell us how you really feel, Erik. When you have a chance to upgrade your defensive front seven, you do it....and it cost us virtually nothing to do with it. The value of the 38th pick in relation to a 4th rounder? We need offensive line help majorly, but that will be addressed later in the draft, I'm sure. We got first round value at 38. The whole "imaginary girlfriend" situation has been played to death. The guy can play football, it has no bearing on his football instincts nor does it diminish his talents on the field.

[The Aztec Panther]

Te'o cost us a 2nd AND a 4th round pick. And he's a total headcase. The pressure of the NFL is going to crush him. We've seen guys with better talent fall apart as players because of emotional problems.

Again, linebacker was NOT an area of immediate need. Left Tackle, Defensive (nose) Tackle, Defensive End, Cornerback, Safety - those were our most glaring areas of DESPERATE need.

Guess what? They still are. We are still in dire circumstances at those positions. Those positions COULD have been addressed in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round - but not anymore! The opportunity to address the greatest needs on the roster has been lost.

Telesco botched the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds of this draft. He's botched free agency (we've lost a hell of a lot more talent than we've signed).

This team could have been 9-7 or even 10-6 with the right player acquisitions in free agency and through the draft. Now the foundation of the team has crumbled and it's a total rebuild from the ground up. It's a total mess.

[Aztec89]

You be right in saying the chargers should have looked to draft at different positions of need.

However, I don't think the declaration of him being a "Headcase" is all fair. Was Jr Seau a Headcase? His actions say yes. However, rather than throw stones, I would give the new kid a chance, and wish him the best. He clearly can play. He needs work in some areas. I think he will be a good Pro. (All pro? maybe not)

JMO.

[The Aztec Panther]

He's freaking SLOW. 4.81 in the 40? Are you kidding me???

That's slow in college for a linebacker. In the NFL? That's glacial.

He was NOT worth a 2nd AND a 4th. Period. If he fell to the 3rd round I might have taken him, but with that big LT Terron Armstead sitting there when the Chargers were SUPPOSED to pick in the 2nd round they could have addressed their greatest need and turned the weakest O-Line in the league into a middle of the pack O-Line after the draft. As it stands now we've still got the weakest O-Line in the league, and with an immobile QB that's just plain stupid.

[aztecron]

You choose one game, and the combine stats to base your opinions on? How slow did he look ON THE FIELD against Oklahoma? USC? How slow did he look the last four years on the field? Look at the tape.

That's the tape to look at. The combine other than for medical info and interviews is a joke.

How many of those sub 4.3 forties have we seen at a combine and then after the draft we never even hear of said player again because they can't PLAY the game.

Relax, Teo will make a really nice fit in our defense this year.

To say we traded a 2nd and 4th rd pick is really ingenious on your part. We swapped positions in the 2nd round for a 4th rd pick.

[The Aztec Panther]

We spent a 2nd round pick on the guy and gave away our 4th round pick to move up to get him. That's a 2nd and a 4th round pick to get the guy. He cost us two picks.

He isn't worth it. We had (and still have ) other areas of DIRE need.

And I've seen too many head case guys crash and burn in the NFL to think that this was a good pick even if he weren't slow. Playing against NFL caliber talent in the BCS Championhip game he looked like a high school kid. He's going to play against that caliber of opposition every week in the NFL.

It was a BAD pick.

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2013 7:44:54 GMT -8 The Aztec Panther said:

We spent a 2nd round pick on the guy and gave away our 4th round pick to move up to get him. That's a 2nd and a 4th round pick to get the guy. He cost us two picks.

He isn't worth it. We had (and still have ) other areas of DIRE need.

And I've seen too many head case guys crash and burn in the NFL to think that this was a good pick even if he weren't slow. Playing against NFL caliber talent in the BCS Championhip game he looked like a high school kid. He's going to play against that caliber of opposition every week in the NFL.

It was a BAD pick.

You can't prove what you say until we see his results. For every one of your points there is a counter point.

- There have been plenty of nut jobs that have had incredibly successful on the field careers as well.

- why is 4 years of all Erica's play discredited because of one bad game at the end?

- ILB may not be a dire need but in a 3-4 defense you can never have enough linebackers.

You may think it's a bad pick but we'll have to wait and see just like everybody else.

[The Aztec Panther]

By taking Te'o (a somewhat risky pick) we have IGNORED LT, DT, DE, S, and CB.

Those are all areas of desperate need. We have no real talent in those positions. We've got guys that couldn't make any other roster (well, maybe Oakland) in those spots. How is Telesco going to get frontline talent at the back of the draft and with castoff free agents that other teams don't want?

5-11 this year. And it didn't have to be that way. We deserve better as a fan base.

[aztecryan]

We swapped second round picks. It didn't cost us a second because we already had one. So it cost us a 4th round pick which has a TON less value under the new CBA. Trades are a completely different beast now because of this. He had 437 tackles in his career. He has GREAT instincts. He was Scouts Inc #2 at ILB and 20th overall. And we got him at 38? No brainer. You don't always draft for need, sometimes it's best player available. And he was at the time.

[aztecryan]

We are likely to sign Bryant McKinnie at left tackle. Fluker could play there in a season or two, according to Bill Polian, someone who has a great idea of how to evaluate talent. We don't need a defensive end. Liuget and Reyes are very young and promising players. We got our nickel cornerback in the draft today, already signed Derek Cox, another promising player. Telesco knows what he is doing.

[aztecmusician]

The new coaching staff will have a scheme to make him effective, I'm not concerned.

[The Aztec Panther]

We need to replace both Cason AND Jammer. Telesco cut them BOTH loose. A nickel corner isn't going to do squat to help us there.

We need a DT. We dont' have anyone of true NFL caliber there. We need a more effective DE. We need a better safety. No one that we picked up today will have any impact this year.

I can't believe how many people have blind faith in this staff. Based on what? They have no track record to buy into...

This roster is a mess, and I can't see how picking up a half dozen castoffs in June that no other team wants is going to fix it.

You know, I'm always ahead of the curve in things like this. I called for A.J. Smith to be fired 3 years ago. I called for Chuck Long to be fired after the first Cal Poly game. I'm pretty good at identifying coaches and player personnel guys who have strategic problems. So far, Telesco is tearing down more than he's building. I get what he's doing - he's tearing it completely apart to rebuild it from the ground up.

That's just not fair to the fans. He just threw away the 2013 season. They could have been 9-7 or even 10-6 with the right free agent signings and the right draft picks. Telesco made only one draft pick that is going to really help the team win more (Fluker), and his free agent decisions have all been horrible for the competitiveness of the team in 2013.

After what we've been through for the last 3 seasons expecting Chargers fans to be happy with crappy football for another 2 or 3 years is ridiculous.

The goal shouldn't just be to be competitive in 2 or 3 years, but EVERY year, including this one. This year has just been sacrificed in the name of, "Rebuilding." Telesco could have rebuilt without ruining this season, but he just didn't want to do that. He had to let his ego get in the way (just like A.J. did) so that he could put his stamp on the team and get rid of the old regime's players. Ego over sound decision making. That's what got A.J. fired. I can't believe Telesco is stupid enough to think that he'll get a free pass.

Or, maybe juding from the fans' reaction here and elsewhere, maybe he will get that free pass...

[aztecryan]

99% of your post is inaccurate and speculative. Cason was let go, because he was awful, ranking near dead last in advanced stats. Jammer is still a free agent. I'm curious to think how we could have "rebuilt" this year given our extensive salary cap limitations. Defensive line is fine. We are young and promising. Tackle could use SOME depth. End is fine. Ingram/Reyes/Liuget? Three dynamic, young and talented players. The fact you don't think Te'o improves this team is laughable.

[The Aztec Panther]

Apr 27, 2013 14:36:38 GMT -8 aztecryan said:

99% of your post is inaccurate and speculative.

Really?

Jammer and Cason are both gone. That's about 15% right there that's factually accurate.

We've gotten VERY little production from DT since we cut Jamal Williams loose. That is factually accurate.

We have a horrible offensive line - the fact that Rivers was sacked more than any other QB and our run game has been among the worst in the league proves that. That's factually accurate.

We have damned few sacks and are below average in tackles among DE's. That's factually accurate.

It's starting to look like my post was about 99% accurate, not the other way around...