2013 NFL Draft: Poll: Kevin Minter vs. Manti Teo

Alright Ravens fans, Lets get to todays draft poll.

Manti Teo vs. Kevin Minter

I know the direction most Ravens fans will go with this, here is what I will say about both guys.

Manti Teo.

I know Ravens fans and pretty much all fans are down on Teo ever since the fake girlfriend scandal and the poor showing in the BCS Championship game. but remember this. Teo has years of good tape and basically one game worth of bad tape. That is something almost any other prospect would kill for. You can make jokes about Teo as a leader, but he has a proven track record of getting men to buy into what he is selling. Is he going to be a leader day one like Ray Lewis was? absolutely not. but in 3 years after everyone has forgotten about the girlfriend hoax, he will be right back in the leadership position. Teo has tremendous instincts. probably the best in this class or last years class. He is very good at understand offensive playcall based on down and distance and he can generally find a way to be in the right place at the right time. He isnt particularly great in coverage, but because he always is around the ball, he racked up 7 INTs, a couple of them game ending picks. Teo is a Ravens type of player on the field, always around the ball, good instincts, decent athlete but a better football player.

Kevin Minter

Kevin Minter is the best traditional inside linebacker prospect in the past 10 years. so why is he generally considered to be the 3rd or 4th best guy in this draft? simple. the position is changing. The old ways of playing linebacker are dying. run stuffers are becoming specialists like coverage backers used to be. The number one reason I dont like Minter in the first round? In two years I think the type of player he is will be all but gone and he will be a dinosaur. Things move fast in the NFL. By 2015 Minter will be at best a 2 down player who has to come off the field any time you have a lead and have forced the opposition to take to the air. In the modern NFL, every non-lineman needs to be able to defend the pass in coverage. Minter would have been a top 10 pick in 2006, in 2013 he could easily be a mid second rounder. That should tell you what the NFL thinks of his position. Minter is an excellent run defender and a good athlete. he hits the hole with authority and punishes running backs that dared carry the ball near him. That said, he has almost no experience in coverage, and the tape he has of himself playing coverage is not pretty. in the NFL he is strictly a 2 down defender unless he develops pass rushing skills for 3rd down.

I’ve said my piece, Now you decide! vote below.