Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Not for the first — or, you figure, the last — time in his football career Tua Tagovailoa has been amazing.
In short yet revealing 30-second Twitter and Instagram glimpses, the wild card of next month’s NFL Draft has managed to demonstrate remarkable recovery from the hip injuries that ended his college career just 128 days ago and threatened to significantly lower his draft stock.
Now, even ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr., who has had Tagovailoa pegged as the fifth pick in his mock draft 3.0, going to Miami, says the former Alabama quarterback has given interested teams reason to think about trading up to assure his services.
“It was a quick video and it’s nice to see. Teams now don’t have a lot to go by, so that’s certainly something that makes it promising,” Kiper said during a media conference call on Wednesday. “It is going to be very interesting with the April 23 draft coming up now, in less than a month, what is going to happen there.”
Indeed, the day after Tagovailoa’s video appeared, the BetOnline.ag Sportsbook listed 3.5 as the over-under on which pick the Saint Louis School graduate would be in the draft.
Cincinnati, with the No. 1 pick, is expected to select former LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, a spot Tagovailoa was projected to have been in the running for prior to his Nov. 16 injury.
ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky said, “I think it (Tua’s video) is a very big deal. If I’m the Redskins (who pick second) or the Lions (who have the third selection), I’m ecstatic about watching that video. Teams are going to look at this and go, ‘OK, the questions we had when this injury happened (in November) are slowly starting to get checked off. The medical reports have all been good. The MRIs have all been good. The movement looks (good).’ So, I think that’s a great sign for Tua in the top of the draft.”
In the videos Tagovailoa showcased his ability to move in the pocket, scramble around cones and plant and throw deep. All remarkable given where he was even a month ago or was projected to be now.
Kiper described the video as, “encouraging, you love to see it. I’m happy for Tua. (He’s) a great kid.”
Under COVID-19 restrictions colleges did away with pro day trials and the NFL is not allowing in-person visits by teams with players. Since Tagovailoa, who was hobbled, did not physically take part in the annual NFL combine last month in Indianapolis, teams have had limited post-surgery details on him, which was expected to reduce his attractiveness as a high first-round pick.
Kiper said teams interested in Tagovailoa still have questions to answer. “Are you going to trade up for a quarterback in an iffy situation medically coming off an injury? And there are going to be durability concerns, which you can’t predict how that is gonna go, even if he is healthy?”
Kiper said, “This would be a year where you would need all the medical (info) you could get, all the things you would need to do due diligence. And, you’re not going to have that opportunity. So, is a team going to trade up without that type of information? We’ll see.”
That’s been the thing about Tagovailoa even before he came off the bench to rally Alabama in the Jan. 2018 national championship game, you never know what surprise is coming.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
76