8 NFL Veterans in Danger of Losing Their Jobs

Manti Te'o, San Diego Chargers

I feel like we’ve never gotten a chance to truly see him in action, and now we never might at all. The 38th overall selection of the 2013 Draft, Manti Te’o has only played 23 out of a possible 32 games in his pro career, but hasn’t yet developed into a three-down ‘backer like most expected he would. The former leader of the Notre Dame defense, Te’o was highly-regarded coming out of college but has only assembled 123 total tackles in his two years in the league and has a resumé nearly devoid of any big plays. He’s a two-down thumper, through and through, and not a particularly durable or dynamic one. His Chargers ranked 29th and 22nd in Adjusted Defensive NEP in 2013 and 2014, respectively -- not impressive marks at all.

This year, the Chargers selected University of Miami linebacker Denzel Perryman in the second round of the NFL Draft to provide depth and, likely, competition to this depleted linebacking corps. Perryman has a nearly identical skill set to Te’o, being fairly unathletic but with good vision and intangibles, which indicates that Te’o might be on the chopping block. Redundancy in tools sometimes means nothing, but it usually indicates direct competition; here, I expect Perryman to beat out the underwhelming Te’o handily.