Saban: Tua ‘is going to work out great’ in Miami
Alabama coach Nick Saban said Thursday that he was hopeful the Dolphins would draft his quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whom Miami selected with the fifth overall pick in last week’s NFL Draft, and believes he will be be “a great face of the organization there.”
In a video conference conversation with three South Florida media outlets Thursday morning, Saban said:
“I was really, really hopeful that Miami would take him. Tua’s such a great person. Really was a very, very good leader here. One of the most popular players that we’ve ever had with our fans and our fan base. I think he will be a great face of the organization there.
“I was just rooting for the guy. I felt so bad about him getting injured. Would those consequences of that injury affect his draft status dramatically? Probably as anxious as I ever was about a player getting drafted, so I was really excited about the fact that Miami ended up taking him. I think this is going to work out great. Tua’s a great player, and he’s going to be an even better person in the community and the organization.” He reiterated the need for Tagovailoa to learn to protect his body more when being pursued by defenders.
“No. 1 thing we’ve tried to convince him of here is he’s got to learn self-preservation is part of the job,” Saban said. “Tua’s a great competitor. You don’t want to take his competitive spirit away. He’s always trying to make a play, even when the play breaks down. And that’s good. He does it well. He’s made a ton of plays in those circumstances.
“But I still think there are times when there’s just nothing here. Several times when he got hurt here, I felt like there’s no reason for him to even get hit. The receiver fell down, whatever the circumstance was, there’s nothing there. Play the next play. Sometimes the other guys wins, but I think that’s probably No. 1. No. 2, he is so instinctive.”
Saban said Tagovailoa is well-equipped to learn an NFL offense:
“Once he learns the offense, and he has confidence and knowledge and experience in what they want him to do, I think everyone will be pleased with how he goes out there and competes,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to be a work in progress. It always is, especially at the quarterback position in the NFL. The game speeds up a little bit. The looks you get might be a little more complicated than what they are.
“A lot of simplicity in college comes with the RPO game, because it’s a one-person read, although [Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian] Sark has been an offensive coordinator in the NFL so a lot of our stuff here was not just related to that.
He’s got a pretty good background in some of the things he’s going to have to learn. I think that knowledge and experience is going to help him grow and develop.
“And I think quarterback is probably the most difficult position to play in sports, if you don’t have good players around you.
He always had good players around him here. Hopefully that will help them there. … hopefully that will be a benefit to him, and he’ll make those players better as well.”
Saban indicated he spoke with Dolphins general manager Chris Grier before the draft.
“He was there when I was there, years ago,” Saban said of his two-year tenure as Dolphins head coach (2005-06). “Chris and I talk a lot about a lot of things and a lot of players. I think they had a great feeling for Tua. They had come to some of our games when he was playing. I really didn’t have to convince anybody of anything in the organization. They really thought the guy was special. Only question and concern was his medical situation. I think our doctors here did a fantastic job. Dr. Cain and Dr. Andrews are both tied into the NFL and have been for years.
“Actually, when we went through the Drew Brees/ [Daunte] Culpepper thing, I flew to Birmingham to talk to them because they operated on both of them. They have a lot of history and a lot of credibility in the league. That was probably helpful to a lot of teams. One of the things we did was make sure when you couldn’t have recheck physicals because of the pandemic and we really couldn’t have pro day, that was a little but of a disadvantage for Tua.”
CHARLTON RELEASED
The Dolphins released defensive end Taco Charlton, who had five sacks for Miami last season but was a healthy scratch three of the final five games, partly because of his shortcomings against run.
The Dolphins signed defensive ends Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson during the free agency period and also selected a defensive end in Jason Strowbridge in the draft.