Tag: draft

Should Tua Tagovailoa enter the 2020 NFL Draft?

Many believe Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has taken his last snaps in a Crimson Tide uniform, after injuring his hip in a contest against Mississippi State which resulted in season-ending surgery. The question that continues to loom is if he …

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Many believe Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has taken his last snaps in a Crimson Tide uniform, after injuring his hip in a contest against Mississippi State which resulted in season-ending surgery.

The question that continues to loom is if he should enter the 2020 NFL Draft and forego his senior season, or rehabilitate his injury and play one more year at the collegiate level before going pro.

Yahoo! Sports college football analyst, Pete Thamel, weighed in on what it would mean for Tagovailoa, financially, and the ramifications of his future decision.

Thamel explains that Tagovailoa was clearly one of the best quarterbacks eligible for the draft and probably the No. 1 overall pick.

With this season-ending injury, among other health issues he’s had in the last two years, teams may be thinking twice in 2020 about selecting him early.

“It’s very difficult, you don’t know what you’re drafting,” said a veteran NFL executive. “I see him maybe going toward the end of the first round.”

Being selected towards the end of the first round is still not bad, but having been projected to be the first player taken, it has to hurt your morale.

But there’s more than just morale involved, as Thamel goes on to explain.

The difference in the money from being the No. 1 overall pick to the No. 32 overall pick in the first round could cost Tagovailoa more the $25 million.

It is expected that his recovery could take upwards of six months. As Thamel explained in his piece, this would mean NFL teams won’t have the opportunity to see Tagovailoa before the draft.

This is a very heavy draft class when it comes to quarter backs.

Names like Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert and others are expected to go in the first round.

This is also a very “quarter back friendly” draft. Many teams are either looking for their quick-fix at the position now, or they are seeking out the future signal caller for their franchise.

Should Tagovailoa decide to enter the draft now and leave his final year of eligibility behind, he will almost certainly not be the first quarterback taken, and will likely fall late in the first round, as the one senior NFL executive had claimed.

However, if he is looking for one more year to prepare and fully heal before entering the NFL, he could stay with Nick Saban at Alabama one more year and enter the less-crowded quarterback class of the 2021 NFL Draft.

There are a lot of concerns surrounding this decision, because if he goes pro now, then the question asked would be “Well, where would he be if he stayed one more year?”

If he stays at Alabama he runs the risk of furthering any of his current injuries and damaging his draft stock even more, or he may even not play at the same level he has been over the last two seasons, which could cause him to drop even further in the draft.

This is something Tagovailoa will have some time to think about and talk over with his family to see what the best course of action may be.

For now, all we can do is speculate and weigh the options visible to us.

 

Sean Payton explains Marcus Davenport’s low snap count vs. Bucs

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said the decision to limit DE Marcus Davenport’s playing time came down to their sub package personnel.

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The New Orleans Saints handled their Week 11 game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with ease, but did so largely without second-year pass rusher Marcus Davenport. The starting defensive end played just 23 snaps against Tampa Bay, with backup Trey Hendrickson appearing on 34 plays. That’s obviously not the kind of disparity Saints fans would hope to see out of that duo.

However, it makes sense in context of New Orleans’ game plan for the Buccaneers. Saints coach Sean Payton noted that his defense spent a lot of time in their sub-package with three down linemen rather than four. With Tampa Bay playing from behind for most of the game and dialing up so many dropbacks for Jameis Winston, the Saints responded by fielding more defensive backs than usual, which meant fewer opportunities for Davenport.

“Part of it was that a lot of our sub plan was out of a three-down look, so the rotation, if you’re playing four, it’s just going to be that many more snaps for the guys in the rotation,” Payton said. “A lot of it was just by, the three down sub package plan that we had.”

As for why more of the few snaps to go around went to Hendrickson rather than Davenport: consider each player’s skills set. Hendrickson is a quick-twitch pass rusher who bursts off the edge with great speed, and has several different arm-fighting moves at his disposal to disengage blockers. But he’s a relative lightweight for the position and can get bullied in run defense, lacking the sand in his pants to hold his ground against a 300-pound offensive tackle.

That’s not the case for Davenport, who is a prototype for an NFL defensive end. Much like teammate Cameron Jordan, Davenport is a naturally-gifted run defender thanks to his size, length, and agility. And also like Jordan, he’s taking some time to develop into an NFL-quality pass rusher. Jordan only had 9 sacks and 17 quarterback hits in his first two seasons, a stretch of 32 games. Davenport is already up to 7.5 sacks and 25 hits in his first 23 games. During his first 23 games, Jordan amassed just 4 sacks and 8 hits.

So there’s your answer: when forced into a pass-heavy game script, the Saints are going to give Hendrickson more opportunities thanks to his upside in those situations. When opponents are committed to remaining balanced on offense or showing the Saints looks that demand more of a four-down alignment, Davenport will get more chances. It’s not the ideal return on a player the Saints invested two first-round picks in, but it’s a reminder to fans that Davenport’s best football is still ahead of him.

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As NBA executives flock to college …

As NBA executives flock to college games to evaluate talent, the NCAA campaign so far has been overshadowed by the eligibility questions surrounding Memphis forward/center James Wiseman, the potential No. 1 overall pick in next June’s draft. Scouts and others would love to see him play, but NBA executives have told The Athletic that Wiseman’s draft stock is solidified from a talent perspective and that there is no sense he will fall out of the lottery picks, even should he miss the rest of the season. “Will him sitting the year impact him a spot or two? Maybe,” one high-ranking team official said. “But it isn’t impacting his financial base. He is known as a talent.”

Former NBA player Channing Frye …

Former NBA player Channing Frye believes the Boston Celtics have started the 2019-20 NBA season so well because the head coach’s system runs better with Kemba Walker at point guard than it did with Kyrie Irving. Frye told NBA TV’s “Handles” the offseason point guard change has helped the other Celtics players flourish to the team’s overall benefit. “I think it is (designed to excel without a superstar),” Frye said of Stevens’ scheme. “I think for them, less is more. “They drafted really well, they made some good acquisitions when they had Al Horford and Gordon Hayward. Those guys fit into Brad Stevens’ system and they excel in that.

According to Carlisle, Mavericks GM …

According to Carlisle, Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson envisioned as much well before Dallas acquired Doncic in a 2018 NBA draft-night trade that sent Trae Young to Atlanta. “Donnie told me flat out he was going to be the best in that draft, and it wasn’t close,” Carlisle said. “That’s how he felt about it. We’re thrilled that we’ve had the chance to get him to Dallas and work with him. He’s worked hard. Each week he’s gotten better and better and better and going forward, I’m watching his workload closely, his minutes, those kinds of things. It’s important that we look out for him, too.”

Notre Dame Football: Cole Kmet Says He’s Staying

the Irish appear to have landed the highly-coveted “Six Star Recruit” for the 2020 season.

Not many players around the nation have seen their NFL Draft stock rise quite like Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet this season.

Kmet went from pretty much being a “great idea” to a star performer this season, making an immediate splash upon returning from a collar bone injury sustained at the start of fall camp. Despite missing the first three games of 2019 due to injury Kmet has been able to pull in 29 receptions for 327 yards and five touchdowns.

Earlier this fall I sat down with Yahoo Sports draft expert Eric Edholm and discussed what Kmet’s draft stock looked like. Eric declared him a very-possible lte first round pick.

Today Kmet was asked about if he’s made a decision for the 2020 NFL Draft.

We’ve heard this before and minds have been changed (Will Fuller) so it’s not necessarily a guarantee still, but it’s great news nonetheless that he was that adamant on returning.

As Brian Kelly once called Michael Floyd returning for the 2011 season, the Irish appear to have landed the highly-coveted “Six Star Recruit” for the 2020 season.

It was Auerbach who nixed Parker and …

It was Auerbach who nixed Parker and insisted that North Carolina shooting guard Joe Forte be the team’s pick at No. 21, a fact confirmed in recent days by several league executives familiar with the Celtics decision on what would become a fateful night for the Spurs. Auerbach, one executive said, remained skeptical of European point guards. Plus, he had seen many of Forte’s games when Forte was a star for DeMatha Catholic High School, the famed hoops program in Hyattsville, Md., run by Auerbach’s friend, legendary prep coach Morgan Wootten.