Extra Points: Tagovailoa, Kaepernick
The latest on the two quarterbacks who have been dominating headlines today as we await kickoff tomorrow:
- Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has already been ruled out for the rest of the season, and there has been some concern his hip-injury could be career-threatening or career-altering. Alabama took the rare step of having their team surgeon release a statement (via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network on Twitter), saying that Tagovailoa is “expected to make a full recovery.” That’s obviously great news, and hopefully it turns out to be more than just wishful thinking.
- Tagovailoa was widely expected to be taken early in the first-round of April’s NFL draft, and his injury will now have a huge ripple effect. He can choose to head to the NFL and risk a huge dip in his draft stock, or he can still return to Alabama for his senior season. Everyone has been talking about his career being in jeopardy or how far he’ll tumble in the draft, but he also has the option of coming back for the Crimson Tide and proving his health before entering the draft in 2021. To that end, “it would be a complete shock” if Tagovailoa enters the 2020 draft now, opines Matt Miller of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). With such little clarity on a timetable it’s hard to predict anything, but it’s an interesting thought nonetheless.
- Another area of dispute has emerged between the NFL and Colin Kaepernick‘s camp. The league said in statements that Nike wanted to shoot footage from the workout and use it in a commercial, but the apparel company is now denying those claims. Nike “was not on hand to film Colin Kaepernick’s workout,” a source confirmed to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), who also writes that “Nike is currently trying to get the NFL to retract that statement.”
- After Kaepernick shifted the workout to a new location, most of the 25 teams on-hand didn’t follow him there. We previously heard that the Redskins, Eagles, 49ers, Chiefs, Jets, Titans, and Lions showed up at the new workout site to watch him throw, and there was apparently an additional mystery team there. Kaepernick’s reps said there was an eighth and as of yet unidentified team scouting, according to a tweet from Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.
- There was also a point of contention between the league and Kaep’s reps over the waiver that was asked to be signed. The NFL claims it asked the quarterback to sign a standard waiver, and that his team made unreasonable changes to it. You can view the waiver the league sent out courtesy of this tweet sent out by Dianna Russini of ESPN.com, and in subsequent tweets Russini breaks down the relatively mundane details. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything that interesting in the waiver battle.
Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa Out For Season
Top NFL draft prospect (and star quarterback at Alabama) Tua Tagovailoa is out for the season with a dislocated hip with a posterior wall fracture, according Alabama beat writer Aaron Suttles of The Athletic. Tagovailoa was carted off the field earlier today in the Crimson Tide’s game against Mississippi State.
After the Tide completed their 38-7 victory, head coach Nick Saban confirmed that Tagovailoa was being taken to Birmingham for CAT scans and MRIs to AL.com’s Mike Rodak. The reports suggest those scans revealed the news many feared. A dislocated hip with a posterior wall fracture is considered one of the most painful and damaging injuries.
Tagovailoa’s draft stock no longer contains the flash that it did at its peak in the middle of last year. His health and sporadic play in last season’s College Football Playoff raised some questions, while LSU’s Joe Burrow has emerged as a legitimate rival with Tagovailoa for the best quarterback available in next year’s draft class. However, Tagovailoa remained a consensus top-five prospect and still had plenty of season to reassert himself as the best prospect.
Now, Tagovailoa’s injury could put his entire football career in jeopardy. Dr. David J. Chao (also known as Pro Football Doc) details the potential ramifications for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Dr. Chao clarifies that the injury is not identical to Bo Jackson‘s career-ending injury, but is a comparison that is sure to be made. In his previous experience as a former NFL team doctor, Chao recalls one experience with this injury. The player returned in eight weeks, but retired at the end of the season.
This injury injects new levels of uncertainty into Tagovailoa’s future. Not only is he looking at a prolonged rehab, but there now may be questions as to whether he should return to school for his senior season in an attempt to rebuild his draft stock. Granted, this injury could also allow him to fall to a more advantageous long term NFL situation. A lot remains unknown, but one thing is clear: Alabama will be without their starting quarterback for the rest of this season.
Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa Carted Off Field
Alabama star (and projected top draft pick) Tua Tagovailoa was carted off the field during the second quarter of today’s game against Mississippi State. Some are calling it a hip injury, with ESPN’s Molly McGrath saying that the quarterback was “screaming in pain” (via ESPN’s Field Yates on Twitter). Tagovailoa also appeared to have suffered a bloody nose.
The 2018 Heisman runner-up is no stranger to injuries, as he underwent surgery to repair a high ankle sprain in late October. He returned to the field three weeks later, throwing four touchdowns in a loss to LSU. There were questions if Tagovailoa would even play today’s game, as the quarterback was still suffering from ankle pain.
As Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com points out, this will lead to questions about why head coach Nick Saban kept the signal-caller in the game. Alabama was leading Mississippi State 35-7 at the time of the injury, with Tagovailoa having completed 14 of his 18 pass attempts for 256 yards and two touchdowns. For what it’s worth, Saban noted that it wasn’t an ankle injury that knocked his star quarterback out of today’s game.
“He hurt his hip. I don’t know anything more than that,” Saban told ESPN at halftime (via Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports). “That was going to be his last series. We were going to do 2-minute before the half with him, just for practice.”
Considering Tagovailoa’s draft stock can’t be much higher, there will also be talk about whether the quarterback has played his final game for Alabama. As David Smith points out, a major injury could cause Tagovailoa to fall in the draft, potentially costing the quarterback millions of dollars. Even if today’s injury proves to not be serious, it might be enough to convince Tagovailoa’s camp to call it a season.
In his most recent mock draft, Sport Illustrated’s Kevin Hanson had Tagovailoa going fourth to the Dolphins. In fact, the pundit didn’t have the Alabama product as the first quarterback off the board; that honor belonged to LSU’s Joe Burrow, who Hanson projects to go first overall to the Bengals. If Tagovailoa’s injury does prove to be serious, that could vicariously boost the draft stock of Oregon’s Justin Herbert or Utah State’s Jordan Love, a pair of quarterbacks who are projected to go in the second-half of the first round.