Tua Tagovailoa doesn't want to make 'emotional decisions,' plans to talk to family about NFL draft
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has until Jan. 20 to decide whether he’ll declare for next year’s NFL draft, and he plans to get his family’s input before doing so.
Tagovailoa, who is recovering from hip surgery, told ESPN he sees the risk and reward in both of the paths before him.
“You think of risk-reward on coming back. You think of risk-reward on leaving," he said told ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit. "And when I look at it, I kind of look at it, if I come back, the risk is what if I get hurt again? But the reward could be maybe I jump back to the top of the charts, the boards for all these teams."
By the sound of it, he’s weighing if he can climb back to the top of the draft ranks with another season of college play, or if he should just get paid now and not risk another injury.
“I'd say the reward in all of that is, yeah, I'll be getting paid millions," Tagovailoa said of declaring for the draft this year. "But a lot of the money that I could've made, you can't make that money up now. So that'd be me leaving money on the table."
With approximately seven weeks to go until decision day, Tagovailoa doesn’t seem to be in any hurry. He said that he still wants to talk to his family before making the “business decision.”
"But then, at the same time, I still gotta talk with my family about all this, see what their input is. Now is not the time to be making emotional decisions. But now you gotta change into thinking as a businessman. You gotta make business decisions."
As a former lock for a top-five pick prior to his injury last month, Tagovailoa also said he’s worried he could fall out of the first round if he declares without having a chance to show off his post-injury play.
"If I leave, the risk is do I still go in the first round, or do I even make [it] to the second round?" Tagovailoa said. "These guys don't even know if I can play with the hip injury yet, too."
Falling to late in the first round seems unlikely, and out of it entirely? Pretty much unthinkable. So luckily for Tua, if recovery goes as expected, he’ll be making many millions in his career either way.
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