Report Tua failed at least one team medical … Armando Salguero, the Dolphins beat writer for the Miami Herald has a report this day indicating that former Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa, who was never able to work out for pro clubs prior to the draft after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a serious hip injury last November, may have failed his physical with at least one team. The info reportedly came originally from former NFL front office executive Michael Lombardi. According to the report for those that can’t get past the paywall “What they saw…is the fact it’s not just his hip. It’s his ankle. It’s his wrist. He broke his wrist the first day of spring ball one year. And then they fixed it, he came back, and he broke it again.” To be fair, that’s not exactly what team physicals are supposed to tell you; what they are supposed to indicate is whether the player is healthy enough to play, although there have been unconfirmed reports recently that a number of teams have taken Tagovailoa off their board entirely because of concerns about the player’s long-term durability. Because of these concerns, Tagovailoa, who would be a lock to be taken within the first three picks in this year’s opening round if he was healthy, remains the key player in the upcoming draft, at least as it impacts the early first round selections. That was certainly the sense we got when updating the GBN’s three-round projection earlier in the week. Its still possible, for example, that somebody trades up with Detroit to the #3 pick for Tagovailoa. He could also go 5th or 6th to Miami or the Chargers at those spots. But its also possible that Tagovailoa could slip a little farther on down the the top ten where teams like Jacksonville or even Las Vegas might come into play. There is also the possibility that if Tagovailoa did start to slip that some team picking farther on down in the opening round such as New England might start to consider trying to move up to grab him. Stay tuned!
