On Friday, ESPN analyst Rex Ryan made a comment about Tua Tagovailoa on the show “Get Up” that has caused quite the reaction on social media.
Ryan called Tua Tagovailoa the biggest gamble in the history of the NFL Draft due to the injuries he has sustained in college.
"I think this is the biggest gamble in the history of the NFL Draft. … Everybody knows about the three operations he's had. Really? Well I've heard he's had five operations."
—Rex Ryan on Tua Tagovailoa pic.twitter.com/1tAzDrwdJZ
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 3, 2020
The surgeries that Tagovailoa had while at Alabama is no secret. He had the hip surgery this past season in November to repair the dislocated hip and hairline fracture he suffered against Mississippi State that ended his college career. He also had surgery in October of 2019 to repair a high ankle sprain.
After the 2018 SEC Championship game, Tua had the same surgery on the other ankle to repair a high ankle sprain as well. And in March of 2018, he had a broken finger repaired that was injured during Alabama’s spring practice.
But in Tua’s defense, the two tightrope surgeries were to help speed up the healing process, not because he was injured to the point of needing the surgery.
Sports Illustrated wrote an article on this, and even shared a video of how the procedure is done.
“The tightrope is a relatively new innovation in the treatment of high ankle sprains, in which ligaments and tissues around the leg bones, the tibia and fibula, are loosened and become unstable. The tightrope offers an alternative to the traditional methods of treatment: rest and rehabilitation or the insertion of screws into the tibia and fibula, bonding them like one would a pair of two-by-fours with a nail. In tightrope fixation, surgeons slip a high-strength suture through small holes in the bone, fasten it with small metal buttons and then tighten it as you would a zip tie. The procedure takes about 25 minutes.”
For Rex Ryan to call Tua the biggest gamble in history of the NFL Draft is not fair nor true, considering there have been many other players over the years who were injured before their upcoming NFL Draft as well.
Even this season, there are 5 other players in this draft who have suffered injuries including Julian Okward from Notre Dame who fractured fibula , Laviska Shenault from Colorado who hurt his core at the NFL Combine and had to have surgery, Bryce Hall from Virginia who suffered season-ending ankle injury, Netane Muti from Fresno State who had a Lisfranc foot injury and other injuries during his college career, and Antione Winfield Jr. from Minnesota who he had to obtain a medical redshirt in both 2017 and 2018.
Simply put, Tagovailoa isn’t the only player who is a “gamble,” in the 2020 NFL Draft, and there’s no doubt there’s a team willing to take a chance on him.
For the season, Tagovailoa threw for 2,840 yards, 33 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. In his career at Alabama, Tagovailoa racked up 7,442 yards passing, 87 TDs, and 11 INTs.
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