The biggest question heading into the 2020 NFL Draft is, what will the Detroit Lions do with the No. 3 overall pick? Will they stand pat and select the top player on their board or will they trade the pick to the highest bidder to get more draft capital?
Many believe Lions GM Bob Quinn will do everything he can to trade the No. 3 pick to a team that wants to jump up to select Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa but a recent report suggests teams may think Tua is too big of a risk to move up. That report is from former NFL GM Michael Lombardi, who just so happened to work with both Quinn and Lions head coach Matt Patricia when they were all with the New England Patriots.
“It’s not just his hip,” Lombardi said. “It’s his ankle. It’s his wrist. He broke his wrist the first day of spring ball one year. And then they fixed it and he came back and he re-broke it again. I mean, he’s brittle. He is brittle. You can’t deny it.”
“Look, I’m not disputing the evaluation,” he said. “I’m saying that if you’re picking a quarterback, it’s really hard to pick a good one. It’s even harder with a guy who can’t stay healthy. That’s my point. So yeah, two teams I’ve talked to have flunked him. They flunked him on not just the hip, on the multitude of injuries. Like, the risk far outweighs the reward.”
Reading what Lombardi has to say about Tua may scare some Lions fans who want their team to trade out of the No. 3 slot but according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, it could actually help the cause to trade down.
If Tagovailoa sees his stock drop in the draft, that could drive the price up for the draft’s other top-10 quarterback, Oregon’s Justin Herbert. He started all 27 of Oregon’s games over the last two seasons and attempted nearly 1,300 passes in his college career, nearly twice as many as Tagovailoa.
NFL executives have wondered if the Dolphins might prefer Herbert to Tagovailoa since owner Stephen Ross expressed concerned about Tagovailoa’s health during Super Bowl week.
If the Chargers prefer Herbert as well, and if both teams are leery of drafting the Alabama signal caller, that could prompt a bidding war for the third pick.
Dave Birkett is the best in the business and he brings up an excellent point. Do you agree with him?
–Quotes/Excerpt via Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press– LINK
