Final week, a brand new documentary debuted on Netflix that particulars the Manti Te’o cat-fishing scandal. If you have not watched it but, put it in your record. It is two riveting episodes. The official title is: “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Did not Exist.”
I am not an enormous soccer fan and pay zero consideration to school sports activities. So, going into the primary episode I had solely a obscure recollection of what occurred to Manti Te’o. When you had requested me when all of it went down, I’d have guessed 2004… 2005? The right reply was between 2012 and 2013. I additionally solely vaguely remembered the story. One thing involving a faux girlfriend… and the media principle that Manti perhaps orchestrated the state of affairs to cowl for being secretly homosexual?
Upon finishing the documentary I’ve two necessary takeaways:
1) The world owes Manti Te’o an apology. He was a sufferer of a traumatic hoax. He completely didn’t should be become a strolling punch-line propagated by a ravenous media scrum that was salivating in any respect the rankings, magazines and web page views this scandal was churning.
2) Manti Te’o is an exceptionally superior human being. He makes me wish to be a greater, stronger, extra forgiving and extra optimistic individual. You may know what I imply if you get to the ultimate scene of the ultimate episode. Good wrenching.
(Photograph by Wesley Hitt/Getty Pictures)
Spoiler alert (but in addition, it has been a decade):
Within the second episode, it is conjectured that the controversy and confusion of the cat-fishing state of affairs value Manti Te’o a primary spherical draft decide. As an alternative he was drafted within the second spherical of the 2013 NFL draft.
As a celebrity Heisman finalist coming off a nationwide championship season, Manti was anticipated to be drafted in the course of the primary spherical, roughly the fifteenth decide. As an alternative, he was the sixth decide of the second spherical, the thirty eighth general choice.
As if being made a public punch-line wasn’t punishment sufficient, based on the documentary this drop from the primary to second spherical value Manti “hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.”
This piqued my curiosity so I dug into the 2013 draft to see precisely how a lot dropping from the center of the primary spherical to the highest of the second spherical probably value Manti. Here is what I realized:
Manti was chosen by the Chargers because the sixth decide of the second spherical. His rookie contract was a 4-year, $5.172 million deal that got here with a $2.14 million signing bonus.
Kenny Vaccaro was the fifteenth decide of the primary discovered. Kenny’s rookie contract with the Saints was a 4-year, $9.4 million deal that got here with a $5.2 million signing bonus.
Simply as a enjoyable FYI: Eric Fisher was the primary decide of the primary spherical. His rookie deal was a 5-year, absolutely assured $22.2 million deal that got here with a $14.5 million signing bonus.
If we assume Manti ought to have been the fifteenth decide, one might argue proper there that the scandal value him round…
$4 million
Even when Manti had simply been drafted later within the first spherical, it nonetheless value him over 1,000,000 {dollars}. For instance:
Xavier Rhodes was the twenty fifth decide of the primary spherical. His first contract was a 4-year, $7.8 million deal that was nearly totally assured and got here with a $4 million signing bonus.
Matt Elam was the ultimate decide of the primary spherical. His first contract was a 4-year, $6.76 million deal.
Profession Earnings
Manti Te’o performed within the NFL from 2013 by means of 2020 (in his ultimate season he was on the follow squad of the Chicago Bears incomes a wage of $130k). As you will be taught from the documentary, the trauma of the scandal stayed with him all through his NFL profession. He by no means actually bought his confidence again and subsequently suffered his efficiency on the sphere.
Manti Te’o earned a complete of $10.4 million in wage throughout his NFL profession.
Coincidentally, Kenny Vaccaro, the fifteenth decide, ALSO performed within the NFL from 2013 to 2020. I do know this is not a superbly truthful comparability for various causes, however for the file, Kenny Vaccaro earned a complete of $28.5 million in wage throughout his NFL profession.
That is $18 million greater than Manti earned in the identical period of time. Even when half that might have been earned by Manti with a barely completely different roll of the profession cube, it is painful to consider.
On the upside, this documentary has principally canonized Manti. He comes throughout so so so effectively. You stroll manner with an unlimited respect and admiration for him.
I actually hope Manti is receiving among the optimistic suggestions about him that I see on Twitter proper now as individuals end the documentary. I hope he will get some closure and perhaps even will get some massive new endorsement or enterprise alternative because of this. He deserves it. Within the meantime, Manti ought to undoubtedly launch a e book on no matter he has been consuming and doing in the previous couple of years. Has anybody in historical past ever bodily aged in addition to Manti?