Manti Te’o, the former linebacker, played in the NFL for eight years until his retirement in 2021. The pro footballer was picked up by the San Diego Chargers in 2013 and went on to play for the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears.
During his successful career, he won several accolades and was also able to accumulate a huge amount of wealth due to his contracts with the teams. Here is everything we know about his net worth and earnings.
Manti Te’o Net Worth
As per the website Celebrity Net Worth, Manti Te’o has a net worth of $3.5 million. The footballer, whose full name is Manti Malietau Louis Te’o, started his career in college at Notre Dame. In 2007, he was named the State Defensive Player of the Year and Gatorade State Player of the year.
He played in all 12 games of his freshman season in college and scored 63 tackles. During his time at Notre Dame, he recorded a total of 437 tackles and was honored with the Maxwell Award, the Butkus Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Walter Camp Award, and the Lombardi Award.
NFL Career and Earnings
Te’o was selected by the Chargers in the second season of the NFL Draft in 2013. He was the 38th pick overall and was awarded with a four-year deal worth $5 million. The contract included $3 million in guaranteed money and $2 million in signing bonus. After injuring his foot in the preseason opener, Te’o made his debut against the Houston Texans.
The footballer continued to record over 60 tackles in the next few seasons and was named the team captain in 2016. He was later placed on an injured reserve. In 2017, he signed a two-year contract worth $5 million with the New Orleans Saints.
The subsequent year, he was paid $1.7 million by the team, which was the highest-paid season of his career. Te’o remained inactive during most of the 2018 and 2019 seasons, but he was re-signed by the Saints on December 3, 2019, for $805,000 for a year.Â
In 2020, he moved to the Chicago Bears practice squad. During his time with the team, he earned $132,000. His contract with the team expired in January 2021, which marked the end of his professional career. Te’o earned a total of $10.4 million in his salary during his eight-year NFL career.
Catfishing Controversy
In 2012, the player became the victim of a catfishing incident. During his time in university, he was deceived by a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who took the identity of an attractive woman on Facebook, Lennay Kekua, and became romantically involved with the footballer.
When the incident was exposed online, Te’o faced unfair backlash. The incident led to him being dropped from the first season of the NFL in 2013. He was eventually picked up in the second season. The controversy reportedly cost him millions of dollars.
The incident was later made the subject of a Netflix documentary in 2022. Both Te’o and the hoaxer appeared in the documentary, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, and the player publicly forgave the perpetrator.
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