Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa makes his decision. Now the Dolphins must make theirs.
Tua Tagovailoa is entering the NFL Draft.
Alabama’s quarterback made the much-anticipated announcement during a nationally televised news conference Monday.
And so, the Dolphins might not technically be on the clock, but they might as well be.
The Dolphins need a quarterback. They have the fifth overall pick, and plenty of ammo to move up even higher, if need be.
Tagovailoa could be the transformational player the team has needed since Dan Marino retired.
But he has been a major medical question mark since suffering a right hip dislocation with a posterior wall fracture when he was tackled from behind by two Mississippi State defenders on Nov. 16. Tagovailoa has also had two ankle surgeries in the last two seasons.
“I don’t think any of the doctors can see the foreseeable future,” Tagovailoa said. “None of the guys rehabbing me can tell me that. From what [specialists have] seen in New York, everything looks good, but you can’t really tell until the three-month mark or the four-month mark. That’s the gauge on all that.”
That four-month mark will fall around the NFL Scouting Combine, where Tagovailoa and hundreds of other draft-eligible players will undergo a thorough medical screening. How his body responds at that time could go a long way in determining how high he’s drafted.
Dr. David Chao, the Chargers’ former head team doctor, wrote last month that “it is unlikely that Tua will be able to work out in full leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft. Team medical staffs will only be able evaluate his physical exam, imaging studies and medical records to forecast his medical status.”
Still, Chao expects a team to take Tagovailoa in the first round. Tagovailoa, by deciding to declare, obviously agrees.
Chao’s biggest concern is not whether Tagovailoa will be healthy enough to play again at a high level. Rather, it’s how long of a career Tagovailoa can have.
“Tua’s hip only has so many miles left on it,” Chao wrote. “He is at high risk to need future total hip replacement. Arthritis is inevitable.”
Tagovailoa’s great short-term potential might trump those long-term concerns. He was on track to be the No. 1 pick of the draft before getting hurt, and finished his collegiate career by completing 69.3 percent of his passes for 7,442 yards with 87 touchdowns to just 11 interceptions. His timing, touch and accuracy are all off the charts.
The only questions are about his health. He’s made real progress in recent weeks, and didn’t need the use of crutches when he walked to the podium Monday.
“It’s a unique situation for sure,” Tagovailoa said. “With my hip, a lot of the guys, the GMs, the owners I got to talk to said the same thing, they look at this injury like a knee injury, even though it’s not. In a way, ‘Are we going to take a chance on this guy or will he be able to do a pro day before the draft?’ The biggest thing they want to do is just see that we can move and we can be back to how we were playing before the injury.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 12:13 PM.
