There’s been a lot of buzz about former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa going to the Dolphins in the draft. We heard recently that the southpaw’s family wanted Miami to nab him, and there’s been a connection there for a while. Tagovailoa is obviously dealing with a serious hip injury, and it’s clearly a concern for the Dolphins. Miami’s owner Stephen Ross spoke to reporters earlier today and said “he’s a great player. I just worry about his health,” per Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That would seem to indicate Tagovailoa to the ‘Phins is far from a done deal. We heard a couple of weeks ago that Miami wanted Joe Burrow, and that they were willing trade up to go get him. Of course, this all could be some gamesmanship from Ross to throw other teams off the scent. Despite the injury, Tagovailoa will reportedly throw for scouts in a private workout at some point before the draft. That workout will go a long way toward determining where he goes in the draft.
Here’s more from the football world as the Super Bowl approaches:
- We heard earlier today that the 49ers were considering former Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard to fill the secondary coach role that is about to become vacant when Joe Woods officially becomes Cleveland’s next defensive coordinator. Richard apparently isn’t the only candidate though, and San Francisco is also considering former Miami secondary coach Tony Oden for the position, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). Oden has also coached DBs for the Saints, Jaguars, Buccaneers, and Lions in recent years.
- Vikings guard Pat Elflein is getting a big raise. His base salary for 2020 was set to be $960K, but that will be bumped all the way up to $2.147MM now due to the NFL’s proven performance escalator, per Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). The program is for players drafted in the 3rd-7th round that are headed into the final year of their rookie contracts, who have received a lot of playing time during their first three years. That certainly is the case for Elflein, who has started at least 13 games in each of his first three seasons. A third-round pick from Ohio State, he was Minnesota’s starting center in 2017-18 before kicking over to left guard last year after the team drafted Garrett Bradbury.
- In case you missed it, Sammy Watkins isn’t ruling out taking a pay-cut.
Elflein is average at best. He gets manhandled fairly often. He played because the Vikings have total and complete crap on the O-Line.Been our biggest weakness for 5 years and it STILL is.
I thought he was a beast when he played center but ever since they moved him to guard, it’s been a meltdown I feel like
He played center last season and he was absolutely pathetic hence the reason they had to draft Bradbury. If that salary isn’t guaranteed he will be cut
I always appreciate when an owner ‘starts over’ w/ a new front office and coaching staff. And then give us the line “I’m staying out of it now. My staff is able to handle all of their roles. I’m very confident in them.”. Then go on to proceed to interfere!
Elflein getting a raise?Are you serious? Dude needs to be thankful he’s got a job!! He reminds me of Matt Kalil…swivel head!! He’s a back up at BEST!!!
Tua overrated/injury prone don’t waste a pick on him