2020 NFL Draft rumors: Could Tua Tagovailoa actually be QB3?

Tua Tagovailoa has been the assumed QB2 in the 2020 NFL Draft for a long time but how seriously should we take reports that some teams don’t feel the same?

Everyone has assumed that, if something were to knock Tua Tagovailoa down the board in the 2020 NFL Draft, it would be medical evaluations. After the debilitating hip injury that ended his college career at Alabama, however, the reports have been nothing but positive regarding Tagovailoa’s medicals.

But with the 2020 NFL Draft now less than a month away, there are rumors that Tagovailoa may not be a lock as the second quarterback off the board come April 23. In fact, it seems like a distinct possibility according to these rumblings that he could even be QB4 in the class.

According to a report from Matt Miller of Bleacher Report on the “Stick to Football” podcast, sources have told him that multiple NFL teams have Tagovailoa as the QB3 or QB4 in the class and that we could be eyeing a fall down the first round for the Alabama quarterback. This also coincides with Miller’s note in his latest scouting notebook that the Dolphins reportedly favor Herbert over Tua.

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The most fascinating thing about what Miller is hearing is that it has nothing to do with the medical evaluations of Tua Tagovailoa. Instead, teams that are dropping him on their boards — assumedly putting Justin Herbert ahead of him — believe Tagovailoa was a product of Alabama’s high-octane passing offense surrounded by elite wide receivers — featuring two players expected to be top-20 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft — and two NFL-caliber starting tackles.

For me, that evaluation is completely off-base. Yes, the situation with the Crimson Tide helped the quarterback succeed. At the same time, the film clearly shows a player who has tremendous touch, poise and accuracy at the position. And when you also factor in his off-field intangibles, he’s clearly an elite prospect.

But my opinion is not in an NFL locker room. So is there any validity to the notion that teams have Tua Tagovailoa as their QB3 or QB4 in the 2020 NFL Draft class?

In truth, there probably is. Every team is entitled to their opinion and, while I believe Tagovailoa is the clear No. 2 quarterback in the class, it’s not a vast chasm between him and Herbert. Thus, it’s reasonable to think a team that values different things could have the Oregon product behind Burrow.

At the same time, this shouldn’t cause anyone to go into a frenzy about Tagovailoa falling just yet. All it takes is one team that has him as QB2 on their board to come on the clock and take him for that to be the case. Furthermore, even if Miller’s sources are right about where some teams have him, it behooves the Dolphins to send out a smokescreen that they are one of those teams. So that report may be intentional folly.

Either way, this is NFL Draft rumor season when it’s hard to know what to believe and how much truth is in each nugget. In the case of Tagovailoa, however, expect there to be some validity to these reports — just not enough to lose any sleep over or bet the farm on.