If you watch College Football or even the NFL, you know who Tua Tagovailoa is. In this article, I’m going to tell you why Tua is the best quarterback in this upcoming NFL draft and why any team would be lucky to get a quarterback of his caliber.
Tua started his college football career backing up Jalen Hurts at Alabama. That year Alabama went to the National title game where they would meet Georgia in a clash of SEC teams. After a terrible first half by Jalen Hurts, the coach of Alabama Nick Saban turned to Tua Tagovailoa for answers. Tua would step in, down 13-0 in the third quarter. He completed 14 of 24 passes for 166 yards and 3 touchdowns, all in the second half. Alabama would go on to win the game 26-23 in overtime and this was just the start of a rollercoaster career for Tua Tagovailoa.
In his sophomore season Tua outbattled Jalen Hurts for the starting job and would get the nod going into that year. He was lights out all year finishing with 3,966 yards 43 passing touchdowns and only 6 picks. He went on to take Alabama back to the title game where they lost in a heartbreaking blowout to a prolific Clemson team. With the whole nation having eyes on Tua for his junior season (and now to be final year of his college football career) expectations were high. Alabama started the year off winning as usual, but it just wasn’t the same due to a struggling defense, something Nick Saban and the crimson tide never had problems with over the years. Tua was still shining through the emergence of Joe Burrow and the two qbs battled all year for who would be the best quarterback in college football. Eventually LSU would top Alabama in a shootout between the two quarterbacks 42-41. Alabama still had playoff hopes until the worst of the unexpected happened. Tua injured his hip against Mississippi State in a game where Alabama was dominating which would end his season and affect his draft stock. Alabama would go on to lose to rival Auburn and end their season with an outback bowl win against Michigan. Tua finished the season with 2,840 yards 33 touchdowns and only 3 ints.
Now that Tua has declared for the draft in a season he ended with an injury, many people are questioning if teams should still go high on Tua. The answer to this question is YES! Tua compares to quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson due to his elusiveness and his field vision. A good reason why teams like Miami or Los Angeles should draft Tua is because this has happened in the past. On the podcast “That’s some Cheese”(A Vendetta Sports Media podcast) I talked with founder and CEO of Vendetta Sports Media Trey Daubert, about why teams shouldn’t sleep on Tua? He said “This has happened in the past where players get injured in college or early in there NFL career, and still end up being what they originally were supposed to be”. He gave examples such as Deshaun Watson who not only tore his Acl in college but also in his first NFL season, and is now an MVP candidate. He also gave an example of Nick Chubb, running back for the Cleveland browns who had a knee injury in college and is now regarded as one of the best running backs in the NFL. Trey also added, “Tua is the next Russell Wilson”, and stressed how good Tua is at looking through his progressions. Long story short, no team should sleep on Tua because he will still be the same guy he was a season ago once he has recovered.
These are the reasons Tua is the best Quarterback in this NFL draft class. He has everything an NFL team wants and just because he’s not healthy does not mean to sleep on him. So if you asked me who I’m drafting on draft night, you better believe Tua Tagovoiloa is my guy!
