Breaking down the case between Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert

It’s been a long offseason, already. Just about every topic is fair game these days, except what quarterback will go with the first pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.

That honor will likely fall to LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, but the debate continues to rage around which passer will get taken next in the coming draft.

The two most likely candidates appear to be Alabama’s own Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert.

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During a teleconference with reporters on Thursday, NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said there is a gap between Tagovailoa and Herbert.

“I think Tua is a more instinctive natural player,” Jeremiah said. “He’s got better instincts. He’s just got a better feel. I think he’s got better touch and accuracy. He can layer the ball a little bit better. I think he is more urgent and sudden in terms of working through progressions.”

Jeremiah went on to describe Herbert as the better athlete of the two. At the combine, Herbert finished the 40-yard dash with a time of 4.68 seconds. That was good enough to place him in a tie for third among the 13 quarterbacks that participated in the drill.

Tagovailoa was not among that group as he was still recovering from a right hip dislocation and a posterior wall fracture suffered against Mississippi State in November.

Throughout Tagovailoa’s 33-game career, he kept the ball 107 times, gained an average of 3.18 yards per carry and scored nine rushing touchdowns.

During Herbert’s 44-game career, he rushed 231 times, averaged 2.42 yards per carry and scored 13 rushing touchdowns.

Athlete doesn’t always equate to running, but for our purposes, it’s probably the easiest way to evaluate guys from a numbers standpoint. Both players’ average yards per carry took huge hits last season as each guy gained less than a single yard per carry.

Given Jeremiah’s remarks after presumably extensive film study on each player, we’ll give the slight edge to Herbert here, but how do the guys stack up in other categories?