With a few weeks left in the primary college football season, the general outlook of the 2020 quarterback class was coming into focus. Experts were getting a feel of who the likely big fish are. Not that the Chicago Bears paid much attention to that discussion. With no 1st round pick at their disposal, it’s clear that if they wanted to go after a QB in this draft, the earliest they could hope to do so was the 2nd round. That always involves prospects with certain question marks. Not top 10-caliber guys.
However, sometimes the football gods have a way of mixing things up. That could be in the process of happening. Tua Tagovailoa, the starting quarterback for Alabama and a likely top 10 selection next April according to most draft experts, suffered an injury on Saturday. This isn’t a run-of-the-mill injury either. It was a severe hip dislocation that required him being rushed to the hospital directly from the stadium while the game was still in progress.
Depending on if there are complications or not, Tagovailoa could be staring at 2-3 months of healing time at least and probably a lot more of rehab to get back to 100%. This isn’t the first injury he’s suffered either. Just the latest in a string this season. So ask the question. If you ran an NFL franchise, would you be willing to possibly stake your job on a guy who now has serious health question marks?
Chicago Bears might actually have a shot at Tagovailoa
Obviously this development doesn’t guarantee Tagovailoa will fall to the 2nd round. There could be a team such as New England or New Orleans who both have older quarterbacks who might see him as a perfect long-term heir apparent and make the pick. Then again teams always seem to shy away from players who might not be quite the same due to an injury. There is always that risk and fear is a tremendous motivator to stay away and go after a safer option.
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Tagovailoa wouldn’t be the first quarterback who should’ve been a top 10 pick to fall out of the 1st round entirely. So if it happens, do the Bears pull the trigger despite the risks? The short answer is yes. The Alabama QB is not a perfect prospect, but he’s got talent and is battle-tested in the best college football conference there is. I recently compared him to former quarterback Mark Brunell. He was never the elite of the NFL, but when he had quality targets around him, he won a lot of football games.
Chicago is in the sort of position where they can afford to take the calculated risk. It will be interesting to see if they get that opportunity.
