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Texans DE: Manti Te'o would be a joke target on team

Former Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o is projected to be a late first round pick. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Former Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o is projected to be a late first round pick. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

If the Houston Texans decide to select former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o in next month's NFL Draft, he can expect to be ridiculed for years to come, according to one player.

Texans defensive end Antonio Smith said Te'o is likely get his fair share of getting talked about, no matter where he gets drafted. Te'o was the subject of a hoax earlier this year when reports came out saying a girlfriend he claimed had died of leukemia actually did not exist.

"Our locker room is full of clowns and, oh man, people would kill him," Smith said on NBC Sports Network's "Pro Football Talk.", via NFL.com. "I mean, he would be the butt of every joke for at least two, three years."

Smith said that Te'o fitting in a locker room will depend on how he handles the criticism.

"You just got to be a good sport, man," Smith said. "It is what it is, and you know it is out now, it's out in the papers and on TV. So, all you can do now, you can't worry about it, you can't change it, all you can do now is laugh -- laugh with us while we're laughing at you."