The 2020 NFL Draft is officially one month away, which means that mock draft and opinion season is rearing its head one last time during the home stretch. But part of the draft season that comes off as a bit brash and warrants a few eye rolls are some of the ridiculous hot takes which get thrown out there.
Sometimes these takes are supported by fact but other times they come off as sheer lunacy. In the case of Pete Prisco’s opinion on the Miami Dolphins selecting Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth pick, this is leaning towards the latter.
During CBS’ mock draft which was broken down by Prisco as well as Will Brunson, the two would go pick by pick and grade each projected selection. Once The Dolphins and Tagovailoa rolled around Prisco took it upon him self to give them the grade of a “C” for the pick.
Before the pitch forks and torches get taken out, in all fairness to Prisco he did cite a few facts surrounding Tagovailoa’s situation.
“The only medicals we are getting right now are coming from his camp, and well he’s improving and how far along he is,” said Prisco. “We don’t know. There’s too much risk here.”
The health of Tagovailoa’s hip is easily the biggest storyline and question mark of the entire draft. Scouts, analysts and general managers all have the right to be wary and to proceed with caution.
But Prisco didn’t stop there, he went on to completely tear down his previous fact based statement with an outlandish remark about Tagovailoa’s passion for the game.
“I don’t think he has the fire in the belly,” said Prisco. “I’ve said that time and time again. I think he needs to play with more passion. Give me more passion.”
Sheesh. @PriscoCBS grades the Dolphins' selection of Tua as a C!@WillBrinson does not take this lightly. pic.twitter.com/9GZSIWDRbo
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) March 23, 2020
To me Prisco has run into a problem that I think a ton of analysts have when they are required to cover and comment on the entire sport of college football. They don’t have the luxury of being around these players everyday, getting to know their personalities and how they truly approach the game.
From my personal experience of covering Alabama this past season I can assure you one thing.
Tua Tagovailoa loves playing football.
If he didn’t love football then why did he play against LSU one week after undergoing tight rope ankle surgery which took him a month to recover from last year.
If he didn’t love football why was he able to will his team back from a substantial halftime deficit in the College Football National Championship game where most true freshman would have run from the moment.
Not every single NFL quarterback celebrates every play like they’ve won the lottery either. How many times do you see guys like Jimmy Garoppolo, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees going bananas after every positive play?
All four of those players approach the game with a level head and take it one down at a time. And between this brief list there are seven Super Bowl appearances and five wins amongst them. I’d say that’s not too bad.
The history simply doesn’t support Prisco’s take on Tua. I don’t completely blame him for saying it since he doesn’t cover the team everyday and the sports world is completely devoid of conversation (so I actually kind of thank him for this).
But from the point of view of someone who has closely watched his final season at Alabama I can only support the opposite of his statement and so did his fellow analyst Will Brunson.
Instead of grading the Dolphins selection of Tagovailoa he decided to grade Prisco’s opinion.
He gave him an F.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
