Tua Tagovailoa's hip injury didn't end up hurting his draft stock after all.
After months of wondering and speculating about the quarterback's gruesome injury, which ended his final season at Alabama early, Tagovailoa went where we thought he might land nearly a year ago: Miami. The Dolphins took Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, completing a grueling process from injury to surgery, rehab and finally to the virtual draft stage.
Tagovailoa's selection, like any draft pick, was inherently a risk. The Dolphins weren't very concerned about his hip, though, after seeing video of Tagovailoa's workout with Trent Dilfer.
"It was important," Dolphins coach Brian Flores told Mike Tirico during an appearance on NBC Sports. "It came out -- (Dolphins general manager) Chris (Grier) sent it to me and we were watching it at the same time.
"Got on the phone right after that and said it looked pretty good. It kind of reinforced and confirmed some of the things our doctors had mentioned to us. It was important. It was good to see it. That nine minutes is very different from having a two-hour, two-and-a-half-hour practice or playing the game. But I thought he looked good from where he was when he initially got the injury and where he was at that point."
Tagovailoa's pre-draft experience was unlike any other due to a combination of his injury and, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an inability for teams to get an up-close-and-personal understanding of where he was as a prospect five months later. The video was essentially all the Dolphins had outside of extensive remote information-gathering efforts on the part of Miami's medical staff.
"Well, we did a lot of work," Flores said. "Our medical staff headed up by Kyle Johnston, our head trainer, you know Dr. [John] Uribe, our entire staff, they did a wonderful job kind of getting us the information on really all the players. We felt comfortable. We got comfortable I would say in the last couple weeks here.
"Obviously, he is a very talented player, and he has got a lot of the qualities we are looking for the in quarterback position. He is a leader. He is accurate. He is tough, so we felt very comfortable."
Comfortable enough to spend the No. 5 pick on him. With that settled, we'll be able to stop wondering about how Tagovailoa's injury might affect his earning power. Now we just have to wait until he takes the field.
