CARD: Panini Rookies & Stars 2013 (31/99)
ACQUIRED: EBay, 2025

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

• Manti Te’o played LB at Notre Dame from 2009-’12.
• In 51 contests he had 437 total tackles, 34 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, 7 interceptions, and 2 forced fumbles.
• He’d be selected in the 2nd round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.
• Although injured early on his rookie year, he managed to finish with a respectable 61 tackles and 4 pass breakups.
• Again injured early on in 2014, Te’o played well, finishing with 60 tackles, 1 sack, his first interception (-Tom Brady) and 3 pass breakups.
• In 2015, Manti finished with 83 combined tackles, a pick and a forced fumble, despite missing 4 games mid season due to a lingering ankle injury.
• Te’o appeared on the up and up, but tore his Achilles, ending his 2016 campaign just after 3 games.
• He signed with New Orleans in 2017.
• There in 10 starts he posted 62 combined tackles and a career high 7 tackles for loss.
• In the playoffs he saw action in 2 games posting 15 combined tackles, a sack, and a tackle for loss.
• He spent the next two years in New Orleans playing in 8 games.
• Signed by the Chicago Bears in October of 2020.
• Saw his only action of the season in the playoffs posting 6 tackles.
• As of 2025 works as an analyst for NFL Network.

ACCOLADES:

• Nagurski Award 2012
• Lott Award 2012
• Butkus Award 2012
• Maxwell Award 2012
• Walter Camp Award 2012
• Bednarik Award 2012
• Lombardi Award 2012
• Unanimous All-American 2012

NOTES:

I think that if Manti had played at another school other than Notre Dame, he wouldn’t have faced the scrutiny that he did- despite his monster college output and fame that surrounded him. ND at the time was going through a renaissance of sorts, and it was popular again to hate on the school- so why not take it out on the school’s golden boy?

I wasn’t really sure what to make of what happened with everything that occurred. I think that it made for ‘better theater’ to unfortunately watch him get eviscerated and torn down.

I really feel for Manti. As a kid before it was a thing, I pretty much got catfished by a girl over the phone- and this was before the internet! It left me scarred with PTSD about girls, my confidence was completely shot and then I became dangerously depressed. I wasn’t equipped for that at 14- and it took me a lot of therapy to work through it. So yeah I get it- and that’s why I didn’t talk about it. Though his catfishing incident was part of his career, to me, it didn’t define him and he’s not letting it define him- despite his struggles with what happened.

After watching the Netflix documentary about him, I began spying out certified autographs of him through EBay. With the market showing signs of weakness, I was able to snatch up this patch autograph of him for under $8.00.

TAC	SAC	FUM	INT	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
307	1.5	1	2	11	5.5	0	11