Redskins Will Take Tua Tagovailoa In 2020 NFL Draft
The Washington Redskins will take Tua Tagovailoa in the 2020 NFL Draft, it would appear.
Heading into the offseason, Washington’s quarterback situation seemed more or less locked in place.
Rookie Dwayne Haskins did not set the world on fire in 2019, but the former Ohio State star still showed some promise. It was presumed that the Redskins would continue to build around him going forward.
As a result, most figured that Washington would select Buckeyes defensive end Chase Young with the second overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
This week, everything changed.
It all started with new head coach Ron Rivera coming out and essentially admitting that he was taking a look at LSU’s Joe Burrow and Tagovailoa.
“Everything is an option,” Rivera said.
“We’re not closing the door on anything. One of the things that Kyle [Smith] and I talked about is that we have to go through this process because you don’t know what’s going to happen in front of you and we don’t know what’s going to happen with you.
“So we’re going to go through and Tua is one of the guys that were bringing in, just so everybody knows. We’re bringing in [Joe] Burrow and were bringing in Tua. And we will see both of their workouts. That’s just the way it is,” he continued.
“You just don’t know, so we’re going to prepare and we’re going to get ourselves ready.
“We’re going to obviously look at some of the other players, we’re going to look at Chase [Young]. We’re going to look at the corners, we’re going to look at everybody.”
Some suggested that Rivera’s comments were simply a smokescreen. That he still was planning on taking Young, but just wanted to see if he could get some trade talks going with one of the teams below the Redskins who desperately need a quarterback.
NFL insider Mike Silver threw some water on that rumor, though.
The possibility is very real.
According to Silver, Rivera and owner Dan Snyder discussed the possibility of taking a quarterback at No. 2 before he was hired. It was described as a “very real possibility,” according to Tagovailoa.
Obviously Washington spent the No. 15 pick in last year’s draft on Haskins, but back-to-back first round quarterback selections are not unprecedented. Particularly not when a new head coach is involved.
Just last year, the Arizona Cardinals followed up the drafting of Josh Rosen one season prior with the selection of Kyler Murray. The move proved to be a good one.
The same thing could happen with the Redskins.
Haskins did not get an opportunity to start until right around the post-Jay Gruden midseason mark, and he ended up going 2-5 through seven outings with seven touchdowns and seven picks.
All that being said, not everyone is a fan of this proposed move. NFL analyst Louis Riddick says that Snyder loves the idea of taking Young and that the drafting of Tagovailoa does not make a ton of sense.
“If they draft Tua, and they pass on Chase Young, who I know for a fact that the most important man in that organization, being the owner, loves… I think it’d just be ridiculous. I really do. But we’ll see.”
In Riddick’s estimation, Young is the best player in this year’s draft if he plays up to his potential.
“That could possibly happen with Dwayne Haskins, Ron could just not take a liking to him and hold last year against him,” he continued.
“Whatever, whatever terminology you want to use to start over. I think it would be ridiculous. I think that would be totally throwing context out the window as to just how dysfunctional that place was last year.
“From the get-go, from the very first time that it was announced Dwayne Haskins was going to be their quarterback. It started leaking out immediately that he wasn’t the choice of the coaching staff and/or some people in the scouting department and that it was Dan’s choice.
“You do those kinds of things, what do you think is going to happen to the kid? You think he’s going to always, at that young age, show the right attitude, the right work ethic, the right demeanor?
“Of course he’s not going to. But people just throw that stuff out the window.”
Just one week ago, the draft board looked clear. Burrow would go at number one, then Young at number two and Tagovailoa at some point between three and seven.
Now? Anything is possible. April simply cannot get here fast enough.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
