Tua Tagovailoa

Height / Weight
6' 1" / 219 lbs
Born
March 2nd 1998 (26)
Position
Quarterback
Country
United States
School
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
NFL 2020 mock draft
Draft Type Round Pick Team
Projection 1 5
SCOUTING REPORT

Pros:

1. Decision Making: 

Tua's decision making may be the best in the class. Watching him go through all his progression while in the pocket was outstanding. His eyes never stop moving making sure he doesn’t stare down a target attracting defenders. Tua is able to find the highest probability of success throw with ease and with the talent on the Alabama offense he had a lot of options, and time to check them all with his line. A poor decision wasn’t something you saw Tua do often, defenses had to get creative in throwing Tua off their assignments. Having this trait in the NFL will give Tua a head start on other rookies who tend to struggle with decision making for a couple of years coming into the league. This trait is one of the biggest reasons I would give the highest floor of any of the QB prospects in this class to Tua. 

2. Arm Accuracy:

The Accuracy of Tua comes a lot from his decision making that was just explained above. Tua works through his options and makes the throw that he sees the best chance of a catch being made. His short distance and medium distance throws are made with ease. He hits the targets in the chest in open field and has a beautiful over the shoulder ball away from defenders. Depending on what team ends up selecting Tua, a problem he may see is protection. Him having time to go through each progression to make the right choice and throw a accurate ball is a huge part of his success in college. If he has a bad offensive line early in his career we may see more mobility and more inaccurate throws from the QB. 

3. Pocket Presence:

Watching this guy in the pocket is like a fast-paced thriller film. So many things going on, on the screen but your eyes are glued to the main character who’s just driving through the chaos. The main character on the screen being Tua, he steps up and rolls in the pocket so smoothly, and seems to know even what’s supposed to be his blind spots. He gives himself as much time as possible to make an accurate throw and if its downfield gives his target enough time to break free. Wr's will love playing with Tua because of this ability, and it will also make them better. 

Cons:

1. Arm Strength:

Lack of elite arm strength is not a huge red flag in the league as long as you can make all the NFL caliber throws. In Tua’s case he has the ability to push the ball down field when needed and can perform all the needed throws. A lot of his deep balls in college are underthrown. Forcing wide outs to pull back on their routes and not be hit in stride. Having great targets like Juedy and Ruggs created great trust for Tua in his Wr's. More likely than not he won’t have either of those guys come the NFL season. With Tua's arm as is a lot of teams will try to take away the middle of the field and force him to throw it deep to beat them. Now how he responds to this will be telling, can he adapt his playstyle and hit his targets in strides for the big plays or will this be his downfall? Only time will tell!

2. Reading Defenses:

Reading defenses is one of the toughest jobs a QB has in the NFL which is full of Defenses coaches that have developed methods to hide and fake coverages with the intent to trick the QB into a mistake. Elite QB's in the league even struggle with this, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes recently admitted that he didn’t know how to read defenses till the 2nd half of this last season a year after already winning MVP. A game that puts this on display is against Georgia this past season. The bulldogs defense did really well at faking a zone to fool Tua into throwing into what would become man coverage. 

3. Injuries:

This is the most said con you will hear about Tua until he completes a full season. This past injury being the most serious and the one on all 32 team’s minds. Reports on his rehab have all been positive, but just a year removed from the league seeing one of the best QB's in the game (Andrew Luck) hanging his cleats up early because of injuries has to concern scouts. The question is, will Tua be the same player we saw in college, will he continue to struggle with injuries. No matter how good Tua is or could be if he can’t stay on the field it won’t matter. 

Player Comparisons:

Floor: David Garrard

Ceiling: Russell Wilson

 

- Destin Adams-

Twitter: @destin_adams14

Player ranking
Year Rank
2020 4
Floating offer