The best health news yet for Tua (who is coming to town in a couple weeks)
It’s official: Tua Tagovailoa is coming to Miami.
For the Super Bowl, at least.
Alabama’s mending quarterback — and potential Dolphins target with the draft’s fifth overall pick — will be in town for a series of interviews on radio row in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, his agent Leigh Steinberg told AL.com Tuesday.
But the real must-see TV comes in April. That’s when Tagovailoa plans to throw for NFL teams in an effort to quell any fears about his health.
That suggests Tagovailoa believes he’ll be fully healthy before the draft — which should make it far easier for teams, like the Dolphins, to take a chance on him.
Steinberg told AL.com that Tagovailoa hopes to participate in Alabama’s pro day in March. But if he can’t, he will hold a 40-minute workout in April that includes 60 to 80 throws for NFL team reps. He also expects to participate in private workouts for interested teams.
“The [intention] there is the ball never touches the ground and I think he’s gonna blow away teams in that process,” Steinberg said of the April workout.
Steinberg continued: “What Tua has going for him, incredibly, is first of all that athletes tend to have — if they play football — they have bodies that heal at amazing rates. The recuperative power is not similar to an average person. They wouldn’t have made it this far in football if they were. The second thing is that he’s really young. You combine those two things, and we expect he will be healthy and working out by April.”
Tagovailoa was on track to be the draft’s No. 1 pick before dislocating and fracturing his hip back on Nov. 16. The severity of the injury caused some to worry about his ability to ever play football again.
But doctors say his surgery was a success, and Tagovailoa was confident enough about his progress that he decided to forgo his senior season at Alabama and declare for the NFL Draft. He probably won’t go first, but if he is indeed healthy by the draft, it’s hard to see how he makes it part the Dolphins at 5.
“The position is so critical now, and there are a number of teams that you would think would be in market for quarterbacks,” Steinberg told AL.com. “Then it’s just going to be a match. Our hope is not simply that he goes high, but he goes to a team with great ownership, good management, great coaching — that puts him in a position to have a long-term future filled with success.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 8:55 PM.
