By Tim Graham
INDIANAPOLIS -- Buffalo Bills General Manager Buddy Nix probably can speak more authoritatively about telegrams than Facebook and catfishing.
Yet Nix can talk with confidence about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o as a football player.
"He's a good player," Nix told reporters Thursday at the NFL scouting combine in Lucas Oil Stadium. "He's a guy that can come in and help you early. I think he's a three-down player."
Bills assistant GM Doug Whaley confirmed to The Buffalo News on Wednesday that the club would make Te'o one of its 60 interviews at the combine and would ask about the fictional dead girlfriend that made embarrassing headlines.
Nix said the Te'o saga wouldn't impact where the Bills slot him on their draft board.
"You know, I tell you, I just read about it and hear about it," Nix said. "But we evaluate that guy as a football player, and that's the way we're going to do it.
"Obviously, it'll probably be mentioned, and we'll let him explain it, but if he's a good enough player, he made a mistake, it's not like he's a criminal. That wouldn't affect us."
tagged
2013 draft | 2013 NFL scouting combine | Buddy Nix | Doug Whaley | Manti Te'o
