This Sunday will mark the true beginning of Tua Tagovailoa’s career with the Miami Dolphins as he will be taking the field as the starting quarterback after initially making his debut in a mop-up role two weeks ago.
Tagovailoa’s debut has been one of the most anticipated in recent memory, based on his storied college career at the University of Alabama, which included a comeback win in the national championship game, as well as a season-ending hip injury to close out his Crimson Tide tenure.
Since the surgery, Tagovailoa has been said to have looked excellent in practice and is coming into a situation in Miami where the team is playing well and eyeing a playoff spot where the lefty can hopefully take the team a step forward.
But not everyone is as hopeful about the debut of Tagovailoa, in fact, there are people who even doubt he will work in the NFL at all.
Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd spoke about Tagovailoa on his show “The Herd” and shared that he does not believe he will be able to succeed at the next level.
.@ColinCowherd had an epiphany last night. Tua is not going to work in the NFL: pic.twitter.com/aFaNGre72y
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) October 29, 2020
Within the segment, Cowherd argued that Tagovailoa’s size and lack of “wiggle” would hurt him at the next level.
He also called the young quarterback unathletic and rooting his argument around how he is too small to see over the offensive linemen and is not elusive enough to create passing lanes to help himself throw. Cowherd believes that the only player who can have the same play style as Tagovailoa and work in the NFL is Drew Brees but does not believe he can come near that status.
Regardless as to whether Tagovailoa will ever be as good as Brees is irrelevant, for some of the things Cowherd mentioned have raised questions about his assessment.
Until today the popular radio host had been championing Tagovailoa as the most talented quarterback in the draft, and had a segment months ago on the show where he proclaimed to rather have the southpaw as his signal-caller then 10 other quarterbacks in the NFL currently.
Just yesterday Cowherd had raved about Tagovailoa’s talent and said, “I think he succeeds in Miami.”
Now, opinions can change, but to go from loving the player to trashing him in a matter of 24 hours is a bit curious.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
