Following his scheduled pro day in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, Tua Tagovailoa spoke out against the recent criticism surrounding his injury history. The former Crimson Tide quarterback took part in an Instagram Live show Friday with current Maryland head coach Mike Locksley, who served as his offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2018.
Last week, former Miami Dolphins and New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said it would be “irresponsible” for teams to select Tagovailoa in the top 10 of this year's NFL draft given his injury history at Alabama. Earlier this week, former Cleveland Browns general manager Michael Lombardi added fire to the rising doubts surrounding the left-hander, stating two teams “flunked” him during pre-draft physicals.
Friday, Locksley provided Tagovailoa a chance to answer back at some of the uncertainty surrounding his draft stock.
“I’m not playing badminton,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m not on the swim team. This is a physical sport. You’re gonna get hurt. That just comes with it. It’s just very unfortunate I got hurt each season. It’s a part of the game. It’s a contact sport. I can only control what I can control. I can’t control that.”
Earlier in the day, video footage was released from Tagovailoa’s pro day where the quarterback took part in a 75-throw workout involving 55 scripted passes and 20 additional dynamic passes to former Crimson Tide teammate Jerry Jeudy as well as former Vanderbilt receiver Kalija Lipscomb. Due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, Tagovailoa was not able to throw in front of live scouts. However, he did send the video of the pro day to all 32 NFL teams.
“I thought it went pretty good, given the circumstances," Tagovailoa said. "We only had so much of the field to work with. I’d like to thank all the guys too that made it possible, especially with what’s going on with COVID.
“A lot of the guys that came out — we had a guy whose name was Kalija, who was from Vandy. Jerry flew in to be able to catch. We had multiple other guys that came in to catch, as well. We did it all under the precaution of the 10-people limit. There was about a total of six or seven of us, so it was all good. I appreciated everyone who helped get that together.”
Tagovailoa said the COVID-19 restrictions have not had a big effect on his training as several people in Nashville have opened up their facilities. The former Maxwell and Walter Camp Award winner has been training with former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer who recently compared him to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Hall of Fame Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.
Tagovailoa is widely projected as a top-10 pick in this year’s NFL Draft with most projections having him selected in the top six picks. The NFL Draft will be held from April 23-25.
“I’ll play for whoever takes me," Tagovailoa said. "I just want to play, man. It doesn’t matter what organization I go to, man. I just want to play. I look forward to playing under any organization that is willing to take a chance on me.”
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