Tua Tagovailoa Rumors: Lions Held Virtual Draft Interview amid Trade Buzz

Could Tua Tagovailoa be in play for the Detroit Lions with the No. 3 overall pick?

Add it to the intrigue surrounding the Alabama quarterback heading into the 2020 NFL draft after he reportedly conducted a video interview with the team, per Mike Garafolo of NFL.com:

The Lions have 32-year-old Matthew Stafford at quarterback, though it would be surprising if they were considering going in a different direction there. Even the perception that they could consider selecting a player like Tagovailoa at No. 3 could make them the team to call at the draft, however

The first two picks appear to be locked in stone, with Joe Burrow the logical choice for the Cincinnati Bengals and Chase Young the best option for Washington. That means the draft will basically start at No. 3, and teams further down the board may want to get into position to select a Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert, especially with the Miami Dolphins (No. 5) and Los Angeles Chargers (No. 6) needing a franchise player at the position. 

Those trade talks reportedly are already taking place, per the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport:

One thing that could hurt the value of that No. 3 pick in trade talks is Tagovailoa's draft stock tumbling due to injury concerns (unless teams love Herbert and start a bidding war for him instead). There has been plenty of buzz recently suggesting that he could fall out of the top 10 altogether for those reasons.

"I'm saying that if you're picking a quarterback, it's really hard to pick a good one. It's even harder with a guy who can't stay healthy," former general manager Mike Lombardi said of Tagovailoa on the GM Shuffle podcast, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "That's my point. So yeah, two teams I've talked to have flunked him. They flunked him on not just the hip, on the multitude of injuries. Like, the risk far outweighs the reward."

Tagovailoa's agent, Leigh Steinberg, offered a different take:

So Tagovailoa's value draft stock remains in flux. But if a team wants to move up the board to get a quarterback, it appears the Lions will take those calls. They are certainly laying that groundwork.