It wouldn’t be a shock to many if former LSU Heisman-winning quarterback, Joe Burrow, and Alabama’s former Heisman-finalist quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, are selected within the first five picks of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Burrow is essentially a lock to go No. 1 overall to the Cincinnati Bengals and replace Andy Dalton.
However, it is still up in the air where Tagovailoa will end up.
The Dolphins are considered the heavy favorites to many draft analysts with the No. 5 overall pick, but this is subject to change and people are starting to talk of a change in draft position.
Picks No. 2 through No. 4 aren’t seen as candidates to take a quarterback. The Redskins have Dwayne Haskins, the Lions have Matthew Stafford and the Giants have Daniel Jones.
The issue for the Miami doesn’t lie with the aforementioned teams, but rather a team, or teams, that fall behind them which could try to trade up to grab Tagovailoa before the Dolphins can.
Their main concern is the Los Angeles chargers, which has announced they will be moving on from long-term quarterback Philip Rivers.
Reports and rumors have pointed to the Chargers attempting to trade with the Detroit Lions to secure the No. 3 pick.
While those rumors have recently subsided, or at least quieted down, Miami must make a decision to either stay put and hope for the best, or trade up to ensure they become the ‘Tank for Tua’ sweepstakes winners.
Safid Deen, of South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel, reported that Dolphin’s general manager, Chris Grier, claims to have “more than enough” in the 2020 draft to trade with a team.
Deen argues that the Lions are the best trade partner with the Dolphins.
This would make the most sense due to the Lions’s needs in the draft, which could be addressed with a later pick in the draft. It also helps Miami’s case that the Bengals and Redskins will most likely be selecting Joe Burrow and Chase young, respectively.
Tagovailoa is believed by many to be the second quarterback taken off the board in what should be a draft that will call on numerous quarterbacks in the first round.
The real question is: why would the Lions decide to trade with the Dolphins instead of other teams in search of a franchise quarterback?
The answer is simple, the Miami Dolphins should be willing to overpay to move up those two spots.
As Dolphins general manager Grier stated at the Senior Bowl, Miami has plenty of draft capital that they have accumulated over the last two seasons but trading away players in order to kickoff their rebuild.
If it came down to a bidding war, the Dolphins would likely take it all the way.
Of course there are plenty of great quarterback options after Tagovailoa, such as Justin Herbert and Jordan Love.
However, having Tagovailoa in Miami seems like the perfect situation.
The traveling veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has one year left on his contract with the Dolphins, which could help out the Alabama product in two major ways.
For starters, Tagovailoa’s hip won’t be fully healed by the combine, it is believed he may have to sit out his first year in the NFL before playing. Having Fitzpatrick for one more year means that Miami can allow the 2018 CFP National Champion time to heal, while still having a reliable quarterback on the field.
Secondly, while Tagovailoa is healing on the sidelines, Fitzpatrick can help him understand the Dolphins’ playbook, the lay of the land in the NFL and impose any additional wisdom the Harvard product has learned in his 15 years of professional football.
The NFL Combine is set to start on Feb. 23 at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.
Tagovailoa has announced he will attend the combine, but will not participate in any of the physical drills. Instead, he will use this time to meet with teams.
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