Remember back in September when Miami Dolphins fans fretted about the possibility that Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa might hit the team with the “Eli Manning” treatment and say “thanks but no thanks” to getting drafted to play for the Dolphins? Those were fun times (not really), but that ship seems to have sailed. The Tagovailoa’s spent Super Bowl week in Miami and seemed to hint at anyone who would listen that they love the city of Miami and would love to call South Florida home after the 2020 NFL Draft.
But could we still see an Eli Manning situation unfold in the 2020 NFL Draft? LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is widely considered the top pick — any mock draft you’ll stumble upon at this point has Burrow atop the pick queue. Rightfully so, given Burrow’s tremendous 2019 season.
But Burrow has, on the surface, at least thrown a few stiff arms out to keep the Bengals at bay early on in this process. Burrow passed on a chance to come to the 2020 Senior Bowl in January, where he would have worked with the Cincinnati Bengals’ coaching staff. And then, last week, Burrow had an interview with Dan Patrick and seemed to drop a line that would give some hesitancy to his fit in Cincinnati.
“You want to go number one, but you also want to go to a great organization that is committed to winning — committed to winning Super Bowls,” said Burrow when asked if going number one overall was important to him.
Let’s be honest. Neither the Dolphins or the Bengals is winning a Super Bowl in 2020 or 2021. But if you took each team at this point in time and projected them forward, which team has the brighter future? The 2-14 Bengals who entered the 2019 season with an expectation of competing and fell flat on their faces? Or the 5-11 Dolphins, who finished the year 5-4 with a depleted roster and have a boatload of cap picks and to work with?
If Burrow were to spurn the Bengals, it would make a for a very interesting negotiation with the rest of the NFL to decide his fate. But Miami would certainly be in the running.
