Tua Tagovailoa is a strong bet to go No. 1 in the 2020 NFL Draft
It took Kyler Murray a long time to lock down the No. 1 spot in the 2019 NFL Draft, but Tua Tagovailoa shouldn’t have that kind of trouble next year.
The Cardinals kept everyone guessing about the No. 1 pick of the 2019 NFL Draft all the way up until their selection of Kyler Murray. Don’t expect as much drama next season.
As far as oddsmakers in Las Vegas are concerned, it’s a foregone conclusion that Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will go No. 1 next season. The Superbook at the Westgate has installed the talented southpaw as a 1-2 favorite to be the first selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The amount of uncertainty reflected in those odds can almost certainly be attributed to the question of who will own the No. 1 pick in the draft. It’s possible Tagovailoa won’t go No. 1 if the team that finishes with the worst record is already committed to a young quarterback. Not every franchise in the NFL is willing to draft a signal caller at No. 1 to play over a previous top-10 selection. That’s exactly what the Cardinals did with Murray before trading Josh Rosen on Draft Day.
The fact that Vegas isn’t giving another player better than 6-1 odds to supplant Tagovailoa shows just how confident they are in the quarterback’s status with NFL teams. Jake Fromm and Justin Herbert both check in with those odds, but they’re well behind their counterpart at Alabama. It would be a major surprise if either leapfrogs Tagovailoa before next April’s draft.
The fact that Alabama is projected to, once again, be among the best team’s in college football only protects Tagovailoa’s stock. He likely won’t be asked to do a ton to power Nick Saban’s pro-style offense. There simply won’t be many chances for him to fail given all the talent that surrounds him with the Crimson Tide.
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The bottom line here is that any NFL franchise that covets Tagovailoa will likely need to secure the No. 1 pick to make him the quarterback of their future. Acquiring such a polished prospect at the game’s most influential position is never a cheap proposition.