Tua Tagovailoa talks injury, upcoming CT scan, and Dan Marino’s comments

First-round draft-prospect Tua Tagovailoa, formerly the quarterback for Alabama, sat down with Mackenzie Salmon from USA Today Sports today to discuss his health and his playing time with Alabama. The Miami Dolphins have the fifth-overall pick and are widely expected to select Tagovailoa, if the medical reports from his dislocated and fractured hip are positive. How is his rehabilitation progressing? It was the first item discussed.

“It’s been a good process,” Tagovailoa explained. “It’s been a hard process at the same time. You know, I’d say, 16 years of playing football it’s go, go, go, now, they tell me rest, just rest. The process has been a little different for me, leading up to this point. It’s been good though. We are on our way to 100 percent in terms of recovery.”

When asked when he will be 100 percent, Tagovailoa responded, “I think that will be hard to decide. I don’t think I would be able to tell you. But, what we are looking at is the CT scan I have not this upcoming Monday, but the following Monday, that will make three months, so 12 weeks. Depending on how good that looks, then we get the feedback that you are right on track or we have to wait a little longer.”

The Dolphins were thought, prior to the start of the 2019 season, to be targeting Tagovailoa for the 2020 NFL Draft. With the injury concerns, there is talk they could look elsewhere, but it still feels like Miami, who also have the 18th and 26th picks in the first round this year along with the fifth pick, have the Alabama quarterback as their top choice.

Miami could consider selecting Tagovailoa, then having him focus on rehab work for his rookie season, while incumbent starter Ryan Fitzpatrick helms the offense for a second season.

Yesterday, Dolphins legend and Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, who is an adviser to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, discussed Tagovailoa, commenting the prospect was a “better” quarterback than Marino was coming out of college. Shown the video of that comment, Tagovailoa laughed and responded, “I mean, it means the world, that someone of Dan Marino’s stature to say something like that about me. I really haven’t done anything yet, I still have to earn my respect in the NFL. College is a different ball game than it is in the NFL. But that is flattering for me to hear from Dan Marino.”

You can watch the whole Tagovailoa interview here:

Here are Marino’s comments from Wednesday: