Breaking down GM Chris Grier's Tua talk
As one would expect, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier did not discuss individual players during his annual pre-draft press conference other than answering a specific questions about his thoughts on Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert.
But there also were other questions during the 16-minute media session that pertained clearly to Tagovailoa even though he wasn't mentioned by name.
And Grier's answers to those questions (and others) might have provided a glimpse into what the Dolphins think about Tagovailoa and their interest level in having him join their organization.
Based on those comments, it certainly would appear that Grier and the Dolphins most definitely have interest in Tagovailoa and would consider selecting him near the top of the 2020 NFL draft.
Brian Spurlock
Here is what Grier said when asked whether there was a particular threshold where a player’s talent may supersede his injury risk?: "Historically it can go all over the place. For us, you always weigh the talents. You talk about the kid, the person, the work ethic and then you do look at injuries. You take in the factor of the position he plays and such. For us, every decision has to be weighed with that.
"I’ve been around great people, players like Jake Long, who was unbelievable and unfortunately he had the injury bug and it caught him. Then I told you about Curtis Martin, no one would have guessed he would be a Hall of Famer. They thought he was a great football player there, but he was hurt all of the time. Then he ended up having a Hall of Fame career and basically never missed time. Again, you just never know. For us, we factor in all of that stuff, but we’ll make a good decision for us in terms of what we think is best for the Dolphins.”
Grier said the Dolphins' analytics department provides information such as injury predictions, but those only go so far when it comes to deciding whether to select a prospect.
"Again, football is a violent sport," Grier said. "We do the best we can. I’ve been in this for a long time. I think in terms of where our guys have graded guys, I’m not going to get into that, but, yes, we do a lot of studies on that. (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle Johnston and our doctors and staff have done a lot of work on every player, and they’ve done a fantastic job, so we’re going to just proceed as normal."
Here were Grier's thoughts on Herbert and Tagovailoa as prospects: “They’re both interesting kids. I’ve gotten to know both of them through this process. Really good people, good players. They’ve both won. For us, going through the process, we’re going through the process just like with every player we’ve done. Obviously being a quarterback, that’s why everybody wants to know; but we’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of the top players and it’s no different with them. They’re both very talented players. Both have won a lot of games and they’re both intelligent players that are winners.”
Vasha Hunt
Perhaps the one comment from Grier that stood out was this one, which came at the end of an answer about the Dolphins' draft board and the idea going up to get a specific prospect: "We’ve spent a lot of time just going over the backgrounds, the character and what they saw, especially on the player’s tape this year. It’s not any different than any other year. The tape really tells you what the player is and then the Combine and all of the other stuff maybe gives you a little bit clearer picture, but at the end of the day, it’s what the guys do on film.”
Based on that comment, Tua definitely is in play for the Dolphins. Because what he's done on film is tough to beat.
Alain Poupart has covered the Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989. You can follow him on Twitter: @apoupartFins.
