Why drafting Tua Tagovailoa would be a mistake for Redskins

Tua Tagovailoa has been the subject of much speculation as we near closer to the NFL Draft. Mel Kiper Jr. has recently opined that the Redskins would be wise to select Tua Tagovailoa with the No. 2 pick.

With the organization seemingly moving in the right direction, Washington Redskins fans should reject this take and it shouldn’t even be controversial.

There seems to be three schools of thought when it comes to potential draft day outcomes for the Redskins.  I’ll list them by what I see as the order of popularity among fans.  First, draft Chase Young and hope that he turns into Reggie White.  Second, trade down with a team who offers a boatload of picks and start to address multiple position needs in a hurry. Then there’s a third take, conveyed by draft guru and ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr: “You take Tua. You don’t trade the pick. You don’t take Chase Young. You take Tua.”

Now, I have to say I respect the football acumen of Kiper and will continue to tune in anytime he has new insight regarding draft day.  Having said that, I wholeheartedly disagree with his assertion and think most Redskins fans should flat-out reject it as well.

For the sake of this piece, let’s remove the option of trading down with another team to load up on picks. It’s a worthwhile exercise to explore, but I would like to explain why drafting Tua Tagovailoa over Chase Young would be a catastrophic decision and one that would eventually be chalked up as classic Redskins incompetency.

Kiper continued, “I would let [Tua] sit for a year, heal that body up and then come back in 2021 ready to go.  Haskins could be the quarterback. If he seizes control and he’s the guy, then you can trade a healthy Tua, who sat and got better physically. I think it’s a no-lose situation there if you hit on one of those quarterbacks.” Let’s examine that statement a little more closely.

Well, there’s one obvious loss in that situation and his name is Chase Young. He’s a physical freak who broke the Ohio State single season sack record, while missing two games due to suspension.  He’s a generational talent and is projected to be an immediate force in Jack Del Rio’s defense.  Washington’s defense ranked near the bottom of the league statistically in 2019 and having Young as a disruptive pass rusher would surely make life easier on the secondary.  To claim that it’s a “no-lose situation” is looney tunes.

While Dwayne Haskins had a rocky debut for the Skins, he gradually improved as the season progressed.  Remember, he only started one year at Ohio State and only played in nine games for the Redskins his rookie year.  Redskins fans hope to see a second-year leap from Haskins, and it doesn’t seem implausible that he is capable of making that leap.  Additionally, newly hired offensive coordinator Scott Turner has been widely credited for improving Cam Newton’s passing efficiency, and there’s no reason to think that he can’t achieve the same result with Haskins.

Kiper also pointed to the Arizona Cardinals’ decision to select Kyler Murray with the No.1 overall pick after selecting Josh Rosen with No. 10 the previous year.  My response to Kiper would be, so what? The Cardinals went 5-10 and finished last in the NFC West after that.  The San Francisco 49ers chose Nick Bosa with No. 2 and ended up in the Super Bowl.  I’m not contending that Bosa was the sole reason for their success, but their early-round draft decisions in previous years have been eerily similar to those of the Redskins.

Drafting Tagovailoa would suggest that Rivera doesn’t fully support Haskins.  The team would likely not even play him during the upcoming season and it would only distract from Haskins’ development with Turner and Rivera.  The last thing Washington needs right now is a quarterback controversy when that situation is completely avoidable.

There are solid cases to be made for either selecting Young or stockpiling picks by trading down with another team.  But to pretend that drafting Tua Tagovailoa with the No. 2 pick trumps both of those decisions is insane.  Kiper claims, “You can have Chase Young and three other Chase Youngs; it’s not going to be the difference.”  I would counter by pointing to the 49ers, who proved that contention to be patently false.