The Miami Dolphins have long been tied to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The left-handed passer has shredded SEC defenses each week he’s taken the football field for the Tide — until a dislocated hip injury prematurely ended his 2019 season and cast his availability for the 2020 NFL Draft into doubt. As recently as just a few days ago, Tagovailoa spoke about the risks involved with both returning to school to get healthy or leaving too soon without proving he’s set for the long-haul.
“Now is not the time to be making emotional decisions,” Tagovailoa said in his interview with Kirk Herbstreit.
“Now you’ve got to change into thinking as a business man, you know? You’ve got to make business decisions.”
It would seem as though Tagovailoa has made a decision — as he has a scheduled press conference this afternoon at 2:30 PM EST.
Tua Tagovailoa will meet with the media on Thursday, December 5, at 2:30 p.m. in the Naylor Stone Media Room at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility.
— ESPN 97.7 The Zone (@977ESPN) December 4, 2019
The exact details of Tagovailoa’s press conference have not been made known and it is still possible that the junior quarterback is holding this gathering to provide a timetable for his decision — or for any other number of reasons. But the assumption here is that Tagovailoa is set to announce whether or not he’ll be foregoing his final season of eligibility with the Tide to leap into the pros or not. And if Tagovailoa does so, he’ll continue to be connected to the Dolphins up until draft night in late April.
Should Tagovailoa feel returning to school is best for him, Miami’s plans will need to pivot, either to a different quarterback prospect or to a different timeline to finding one worth investing in.
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