NFL GM: Drafting Tua Tagovailoa 'Little Bit of a Leap of Faith' Due to Injuries

The book on Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is pretty well-established at this point—highly talented, major injury concerns. 

As one general manager told Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, drafting him "is a little bit of a leap of faith."

An AFC scout had similar sentiments, noting: "He's got some traits about him that seem like they're high-level—instincts, accuracy, quick release and even some of his mobility. Durability is just the question there. When he scrambles and gets out, whoever has him is probably going to be holding their breath."

Finally, an NFC coach said: "I love him intangibly. But the way he plays, the way he takes hits, the way he scrambles—it would worry me. I don't know that he's built for it in the long haul, just his body type. And if I was investing a franchise-changing pick, I would have to factor that in."

To review, Tagovailoa has dealt with a broken finger, left and right high ankle sprains, a sprained knee and the dislocated hip that ended his 2019 season in the past two years. That is obviously a major concern.  

And it could hurt his draft stock in a major way. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, there is "persistent and widespread" talk in NFL circles that the Alabama quarterback could slide out of the top 10. 

The obvious pairing might be to project Tagovailoa to the quarterback-needy Miami Dolphins. But not so fast. In his latest scouting notebook, B/R's Matt Miller wrote he was "told by multiple league sources that the Dolphins aren't convinced Tua is the best option and could instead target Oregon's Justin Herbert. The situation is fluid, but the buzz around the league is that Herbert has the most fans in the Dolphins' draft room."

What about the Los Angeles Chargers at No. 6? According to Miller, a "very well-connected scout mentioned that Jordan Love is a name to watch here."

Could Tagovailoa, the 2018 runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, drop out of the top 10? It certainly seems possible. So, what would teams be missing if Tagovailoa stays healthy?

An NFC executive told Pelissero, ""I think [Tua]'s a really good prospect—a prospect that you can win pretty quickly with. He's really polished with his footwork and his fundamentals. I don't think you're going to see [Herbert's] ceiling for quite a bit. For Tua, the floor and the ceiling are pretty close." 

When healthy, Tagovailoa played like a superstar, throwing for 7,442 yards, 87 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions, completing 69.3 percent of his passes. He won a national championship and won the 2018 Maxwell and Walter Camp awards. 

Coming into the 2019 season, he was the prohibitive favorite to be the first player off the board in this year's draft. If he hadn't suffered that hip injury, he likely still would be in that conversation, giving the Cincinnati Bengals a fascinating decision to consider between him and Burrow. 

Now, it seems he's the most likely big name to fall in the draft. At the very least, drafting him is a risk.