The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Can Tagovailoa end up in New England?
Former Miami Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum said the New England Patriots are a realistic landing spot for Alabama star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a seasonending hip injury on Saturday.
Tannenbaum, the Dolphins’ Executive VP of Football Operations from 201518, laid out how the potential top pick in April’s NFL draft could wind up on the defending Super Bowl champions after suffering a dislocated right hip against Mississippi State.
“Obviously, it’s a tragic and unfortunate situation,” Tannenbaum said Monday morning on the Golic and Wingo Show on ESPN. “But looking forward now, we’re going to be talking about this through April. The permutations are truly historic because (he) could declare for the draft, and then truly evaluate how that goes. To me, this lines up so well for New England. If I’m New England, I take him at the bottom of the first round and say, ‘Look, you’re not playing for one year, maybe two (years) because we’re going to make sure you’re 1,000% healthy not just 99% (healthy).”
Tannenbaum, ESPN’s NFL front office insider, further explained to cohosts Mike Golic and Trey Wingo how the complexity of the injury could cause teams to be wary of the player at the heart of the monthslong “Tank for Tua” talk. The former New York Jets general manager (200612) also discussed Tagovailoa’s options regarding his draft status.
“Unfortunately, I have a lot of history with this injury,” Tannenbaum said. “Orthopedic surgeons hate this injury because that part of the hip . that socket is not well vascularized and the recovery is very hard to predict. We live in a world of, ‘We want certainty.’ ACL it’s X, Achilles it’s Y. They don’t know on this injury as it’s very body specific because the blood supply is so poor.
That’s not to say he can’t make a full recovery. However, if I’m Tua and I’m drafted in the middle of the first round, I may say, ‘You know what, I have worldclass care . I have more leverage than John Elway or Eli Manning. I’m going to rehab myself for a year, and I’ll go back into the draft.’”
Elway threatened to play baseball for the New
York Yankees if the Baltimore Colts drafted him with the first pick in the 1983 draft. The Colts subsequently drafted Elway with the top pick before trading him to the Denver Broncos.
Manning said he would not report to the San Diego Chargers if they drafted him with the top pick in 2004, threatening to sit out the entire season. The Chargers wound up drafting Manning with the No. 1 pick before trading him to the New York Giants.