Alabama Crimson Tide starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has declared for the 2020 NFL Draft. Here are six teams that absolutely need to draft him.
After three years at the University of Alabama, Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has decided to forego his senior season and declare for the 2020 NFL Draft. Tagovailoa won a national championship at Alabama, led his team to an SEC Championship and finished as a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in his sophomore season in 2018.
Tagovailoa leaves Tuscaloosa as one of the most accomplished signal-callers in SEC history. He completed 69.3 percent of his passes for 7,442 yards, 87 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions in three seasons. Although he only had a little under two years’ worth of collegiate starts, Tagovailoa has made the right decision to leave school a year early and enter the upcoming NFL Draft.
Of course, Tagovailoa won’t be entering the upcoming draft without a few questions. He battled through injuries in college, having undergone two high-ankle sprain surgeries, as well as suffering a season-ending hip injury vs. the Mississippi State Bulldogs back in November. Tagovailoa might play as a rookie in the NFL in 2020, but we shouldn’t expect him to be back to good until 2021.
Given his prolific college career, his beautiful spiral and his undeniable leadership qualities, here are six NFL teams who absolutely need to draft him this spring. However, only one of these half-dozen organizations will be lucky enough to welcome Tagovailoa into their family. Who will it be?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven’t reached the NFC playoffs since 2007. They went 7-9 last season in Bruce Arians‘ first year leading the franchise. Tampa Bay will be picking No. 14 in the upcoming draft. While they have a few things working against them in their ability to draft Tagovailoa, that doesn’t mean the Buccaneers shouldn’t think about moving up to get him.
Picking at No. 14 is about as far back as Tagovailoa could reasonably drop in this draft. If he falls out of the top-10, that should be shocking to everyone. Tampa Bay isn’t too far back to move up into the top-10 and draft Tagovailoa. Of course, the Buccaneers would have to hope several quarterback-desperate teams pass on him before he falls to them likely outside of the top-five.
Ultimately, the Buccaneers could very well look to bring back former No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston on a second contract. At times, he played pretty well in Arians’ offense, but his 30 interceptions last year were certainly alarming and something the Buccaneers may not want to commit to long-term.
The Buccaneers could use either the franchise tag or the transition tag on Winston, as well as trade up to land Tagovailoa as his successor. On paper, this could make sense for the Buccaneers to ensure they have all their quarterbacking bases covered. That being said, it’s hard to envision a Tampa Bay quarterback room with Winston and Tagovailoa both in it. It’s one or the other.