Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is officially in.
Tagovailoa announced on Monday morning that he would be forgoing his senior season and declare for the 2020 NFL draft.
Despite the injury concerns, Tua is one of the most decorated prospects in this draft class and he will be a hot commodity.
With the Chargers in need of finding a quarterback of the future, Tagovailoa could very well be in the team’s plans. The only thing is that it could come with a price.
The Dolphins, who are another a quarterback-needy team, should have their eyes on Tua. Miami is slated to pick No. 5 overall, which means that Los Angeles would have to jump them if they see Tagovailoa as their guy.
You have two teams that are likely willing to listen to trade offers: the Lions, who have the No. 3 overall selection and the Giants, who possess the No. 4 overall selection.
Should the Chargers look to be aggressive and move up a few spots to secure Tua, who they might see as their future face of franchise, how much would it cost them?
History suggests a pretty hefty price might be required.
In 2018, the New York Jets, who had the No. 6 overall selection, traded with the Indianapolis Colts for the No. 3 overall selection. The Jets gave up their 2018 first (No. 6 overall), two 2018 seconds (37th and 49th overall) and a 2019 second-round pick.
Seems like quite a bit, doesn’t it?
We wanted to go ahead and see what the Chargers could deal to get one of the picks, which we went ahead and used the NFL Draft Pick Trade Value Chart to do so.
Let’s say they felt confident enough with jumping to the No. 4 slot. The Giants’ pick is worth 1,800 points, while the Chargers’ pick is worth 1,600 points. Los Angeles’ third-round selection is worth 235 points, so adding those two gets you 1,835 points.
From the values in the chart, it sounds pretty easy without having to get give up a lot. But in reality, New York would likely ask for a lot more. We see that with a trade that occurred two years ago, all to land on who the Jets saw as their quarterback of the future.
The last time the Chargers traded up in the first-round was to draft running back Melvin Gordon with the San Francisco 49ers, in which they jumped two spots from No. 17 to No. 15 to get him with.
The draft is unpredictable and anything could happen, but if general manager Tom Telesco truly does see Tua as the long-term answer, he might have to work the phones to make it happen when factoring in who’s right in front of them.
Would it be surprising to see the Chargers trade up on draft night? Absolutely not, especially when considering the pressing need for a quarterback. Who knows? Tagovailoa could fall to their laps with durability concerns looming.
But if Tua is gone, I expect Telesco to highly consider Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Utah State’s Jordan Love, or an offensive tackle with their first-round pick.