Back in September, fans of the Miami Dolphins declared that the team should go “all in” on a tanked season in order to ensure that the team would have the opportunity to draft Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Fast forward to January and the Dolphins are picking 5th — but should still see the opportunity to draft Tagovailoa in April’s NFL Draft.
This wasn’t the path many envisioned when talking about a marriage between Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins, but none the less the path is now clear for how Miami lands a new franchise quarterback. Tagovailoa announced this afternoon in Tuscaloosa that he would, in fact, be declaring for this year’s NFL Draft despite a dislocated hip injury that ended his season early and cast doubt upon his durability for the pros.
After apparently weeks of teetering back and forth, Tua took the plunge — and the Dolphins will be keeping a watchful eye on all of the updates centered around his medical status along the way. If Miami chooses to commit to drafting Tagovailoa, they should have a prime opportunity to do so. They sit in front of every other quarterback hungry team in the draft aside of the Cincinnati Bengals — who are likely to draft LSU’s Joe Burrow with the top pick. And as a kicker, the Dolphins have more ammunition than any team in the league, too.
So say the Carolina Panthers call up the Detroit Lions, who pick 3rd, and decide to offer the Lions a trade to leap Miami, the Dolphins will have the opportunity to match the deal and block a trade from somewhere else on the draft board.
Is that the ideal scenario for Miami? No, of course not. The ideal scenario would be to hold steady and draft Tagovailoa at 5, provided he gets the medical green light. And should the Dolphins ultimately pass on Tagovailoa, it will likely tell you what their doctors felt about his long-term prognosis as an NFL quarterback.
But for now, Miami’s hope of a blue chip passer is extended thanks to Tagovailoa’s leap of faith.
