INDIANAPOLIS -- Everybody wants to play right away. But not everybody is Tua Tagovailoa.
Anyone watching Alabama on Saturdays knows that.
But the dual-threat quarterback from Alabama is recovering from hip surgery, and while he remains optimistic he’ll be ready to go for his rookie NFL season, some believe he is best suited for a redshirt year. And Tagovailoa, perhaps the most exciting player in college football when healthy, is embracing the possibility of watching from the sidelines next season.
“As a competitor, I want to be able to play,” Tagovailoa said. "But you look at a lot of the guys that are really good and a lot of the greats, they’ve been mentored by big-time quarterbacks as well as veteran quarterbacks. If a team needs me to go out there and start for them, I’ll do that. But if they need me to sit behind someone and learn from them, I can’t see what’s wrong with that as well.”
It’s hard to hear that and not immediately think about Matthew Stafford. After all, the Lions hold the third overall pick in a draft that’s expected to go Joe Burrow, then Chase Young. Which means Detroit will be in position to draft Tagovailoa just a few months after watching Stafford go down with another back injury, his third in as many years.
Detroit went 0-8 without him.
In fact, Detroit hasn’t won anything since taking Stafford first overall in the 2009 draft. No division titles, no playoff games, no anything. And with the club sitting on the third overall pick, some believe the time is now for the franchise to take another direction.
The Lions are one of two favorites to land Tagovailoa, according to the bookmakers.
Of course, there’s always the matter of whether Tagovailoa actually wants to be in Detroit. The Miami Herald reported Tua’s family doesn’t love the idea of Detroit picking him because of the coaching situation. The Lions have won just nine games since hiring Matt Patricia two years ago, and now the embattled coach heads into a season with a win-now mandate from ownership.
“The Tagovailoas are concerned another poor season could force the Lions to fire Patricia, putting the quarterback in the uncertain 2021 situation of being a draft pick the new coach didn’t make,” the Miami Herald reported.
Asked directly about playing in Detroit, Tagovailoa chose his words carefully.
“Whatever team decides to pick me, I’d be grateful whether it’s first or 32nd or 200th," Tagovailoa said. "I’d be grateful just to get picked.”
So he’s open to it. But that’s not exactly a full-throated endorsement of the Lions either, especially when compared to his comments about, say, the Dallas Cowboys.
“I have two dogs that are named ‘Dallas’ and ‘Star,’” Tagovailoa said. “That’s just to tell you guys how big of a Cowboys fan I was growing up. But I’d be grateful to be drafted by any team.”
Sure. But it sure sounds like he’d be more grateful to be picked by Dallas than Detroit or just about anybody else.
"My dad’s dad’s dad’s dad’s dad was a Cowboys fan, and it just trickled down the line,” Tagovailoa said. “... I’ve always wanted to see the Cowboys make the playoffs, win the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl. I was just so excited growing up watching the Cowboys.”
Tagovailoa also seemed keen on the Miami Dolphins, who join Detroit as the favorites to land him. There was even a “Tank for Tua” campaign last season, which made its way all the way to Tuscaloosa.
"My teammates would tell me, ‘Hey, bro, look at this. Dolphins want you,’ Tagovailoa said. "I’d be flattered. But as a kid growing up, that’s like a dream to have an organization want you, especially the fans there.”
Miami is currently sitting on the fifth overall pick, but also has three first-round picks with which to make a move up the board. In fact, many believe Miami and Detroit could make likely bedfellows in a trade, with the Dolphins landing the quarterback they prize, and the Lions stacking the picks they need to put that near-historically bad defense back together.
“Tua had a fantastic college career,” Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said. “We’re going through the process of getting to know him. But he seems like a great kid and the medical will tell us what it is.”
Tagovailoa fractured and dislocated his hip in a November game against Mississippi State, which means he won’t work out this week at the combine. But it also means this week is a very busy one for him, as he tries to convince team all is well with the hip. (He’s also had work done on both ankles.)
He said he went to the hospital at 10 a.m. on Monday, and didn’t return until 7:49 p.m.
The quarterback will have a checkup with his doctors on March 9, at which point he could receive full medical clearance to return to the field. He probably won’t be ready to participate in Alabama’s pro day on March 24, but he says he plans to hold his own pro day on April 9. That’s two weeks before the draft in Las Vegas, where he’s almost certainly going to factor into the Lions’ fate one way or the other.
Either the Lions can alter the course of the franchise by taking Tua, or pick up picks by dishing the pick to another more quarterback-needy team. In addition to the Dolphins, the Chargers and Panthers also are in the top 10 and need a quarterback. And the Oakland Raiders may not be in the top 10, but they do have two first-round picks and an emerging need at quarterback, where some are dimming on Derek Carr.
It’s also possible Detroit uses the pick on another player, with guys like Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah, Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown and Clemson do-everything defender Isaiah Simmons drawing a lot of acclaim.
But as long as the medicals check out, it’s hard not to envision Tagovailoa impacting Detroit’s draft in some way.
“He’s an extremely competitive guy, he plays hard, his teammates love to play for him,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “He can make a lot of great things happen on the field, like a lot of the guys in the draft this year. Certainly athletic, explosive, dynamic playmaking ability.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm1saXZlLmNvbS9saW9ucy8yMDIwLzAyL3R1YS10YWdvdmFpbG9hLW9wZW4tdG8tbGFuZGluZy13aXRoLWRldHJvaXQtbGlvbnMtYWxvbmctd2l0aC1hbnlib2R5LWVsc2UuaHRtbNIBgQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5tbGl2ZS5jb20vbGlvbnMvMjAyMC8wMi90dWEtdGFnb3ZhaWxvYS1vcGVuLXRvLWxhbmRpbmctd2l0aC1kZXRyb2l0LWxpb25zLWFsb25nLXdpdGgtYW55Ym9keS1lbHNlLmh0bWw_b3V0cHV0VHlwZT1hbXA?oc=5
2020-02-26 11:30:00Z
52780631703648
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar