The DropDownList triggers exceptions if there are no items in the dropdown and one tries to use keyboard navigation:
Here is a test page. A possible workaround is to set DefautText, so that the dropdown always contains at least one item.
Open and press Enter, Up or Down:
<TelerikDropDownList Data="@( new List<string>() )"
@bind-Value="@SelectedValue"
TItem="string"
TValue="string"
Width="200px" />
<br /><br />
Open, filter by something non-existent and press Enter, Up or Down:
<TelerikDropDownList Data="@DropDownData"
@bind-Value="@SelectedValue"
TItem="string"
TValue="string"
Filterable="true"
Width="200px" />
@code {
string SelectedValue { get; set; }
List<string> DropDownData = new List<string>()
{
"foo",
"bar",
"baz"
};
}