OT: what would u do in Tua’s Situation?
Read a report, doctors expect his recovery timeline to be 6-12 months, more so 12 months. That would put him out next year. Should Tua declare for 2020 draft hope a team drafts him in hopes he makes a full recovery to play 2021 in nfl? Or he could redshirt at Alabama for 2020, return as a redshirt senior 2021 and play at alabama to show he is elite again and maybe get back in first round? Curious what everyone’s thoughts are....
November 17th, 2019 at 6:21 PM ^
Duh. Stay at Alabama as long as possible. Why take a pay cut and go to the NFL when you don't have to???
November 17th, 2019 at 6:29 PM ^
RT if you remember Brian Cook's Every Three Weekly with the sidebar headline
"[David] Terrell To Take Pay Cut, Turn Pro"
November 17th, 2019 at 6:25 PM ^
choice #2, clearly.
he has almost no chance to go as a high-round pick with a serious injury and very uncertain recovery prospects in april (draft time)
November 17th, 2019 at 7:20 PM ^
He will certainly be a first round pick unless the doctors say that he cannot play again. Plenty of teams have taken chances on injured players on first round for lesser players.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:53 PM ^
How many have the Bo Jackson career ending hip injury?
November 17th, 2019 at 8:19 PM ^
Wasn't it a complication that actually ended Jackson's career, and not the initial hip injury? Or did I read that wrong?
November 17th, 2019 at 8:51 PM ^
Comparisons to Bo Jackson's hip injury are lazy and inaccurate. There were a number of factors that made Bo's situation much more career-damaging than what Tua is facing. Shockingly, sports medicine has advanced somewhat over the last 30 years. NFL team surgeons have come out saying that the injury probably won't take him out of the first round, but he probably won't get picked in the top 5 now due to his injury history.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:10 PM ^
No, comparisons to Bo's hip injury are not lazy and inaccurate. Both suffered a dislocated hip and posterial wall fracture. Its a very rare injury for football players.
Where its problematic is not remembering that it wasnt just the injury that ended Bo's career, but the aftermath of the surgery, as you mentioned. He developed AVN and then had to have another hip surgery after developing arthritis.
But when people report the injury is similar to Bo's that's not inaccurate.
November 17th, 2019 at 11:42 PM ^
I say it is lazy and inaccurate because people simply see that it is the same base injury that Bo had and not realizing it was really the major complications from the injury that ended Bo's career, other football players who dealt with this injury with less severe complications have successfully returned to the field. While there is of course some risk of Tua also facing severe complications it is not at all a sure thing. Bo experienced really the worst possible complications after the initial injury which was the oddly rapid avascular necrosis and traumatic chondrolysis (complete loss of cartilage). Unlike Tua, Bo actually DID NOT have surgery when the original hip injury happened (surgery is not always needed for this type of injury), he only had the full hip replacement surgery well after the initial injury was sustained. Perhaps if sports medicine was better 30 years ago Bo's football career could have lasted a few more seasons.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:25 PM ^
Get whatever insurance policy he can get at this point, go back to bama, play for half a season, shut it down, and then go pro after showing that he’s healthy.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:53 PM ^
Either play another college season or don’t. Don’t half ass your teammates.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:10 PM ^
I hope he already has insurance. Who would give him a policy today?
If has a policy, declares for the draft, and goes in the late rounds, can he cash in on the policy? ...or a portion of it? If so, that may play into a decision.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:18 PM ^
I'm not sure about college sports kid underwriting, but I haven't seen much talk of non-NFL-eligible kids having policies. It seems more like something they underwrite when you choose to come back after year three.
If they do underwrite younger players, I surely hope he already has a policy.
Also, if I was Tua I would have vastly preferred having my surgery at UM hospital rather than where he got it in Alabama.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:38 PM ^
Used to work in this field. Lloyd's of London is the only one that I know of who underwites, and I've only seen them do it in the final year.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:59 PM ^
Tua is NFL draft eligible.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:34 PM ^
Didn't Andrew Luck have a big policy through this ESDI program? Would have hoped Tua had the same. If one of my kids was an athlete with similar potential, some sort of insurance would be an extremely high priority from the earliest moment possible - like high school.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:46 PM ^
Dude, it's not like it's some backwater one room clinic.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:43 PM ^
You’d prefer to go to a place you know no one and have no connection? Ok, sure.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
He's having the surgery done in Houston.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:21 PM ^
Screw that. He needs to start the NFL clock now so that he can get to that lucrative second contract as soon as possible. Wasting another 2 years will not do anything for him in the long run.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:58 PM ^
He might never be able to play again. This isn’t an ACL.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:26 PM ^
All the more reason to get drafted ASAP
November 17th, 2019 at 9:40 PM ^
If it is a 50/50 shot to play again, then more the reason he should go see if he can get drafted. If he never plays again, at least he will get some money from NFL. If he can play, then he is 2 years closer to the big contract.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:27 PM ^
Go pro this year. If he waits another year Trevor Lawrence will be the #1 QB off the board even if he was healthy. Staying at Bama and putting off going pro for 2 more years would be a big mistake I think.
Teams will still gamble on him this year in the late first or second round most likely. If he waits an entire year to play, he has to prove himself all over again to NFL scouts. Right now he already has enough on film to be selected high, why take the chance of not looking the same 2 years from now and dropping to mid-late rounds? Get that guaranteed money now and hope to make a full recovery while you’re already getting paid.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
You definitely go pro. Daniel Jones went 6th overall last year. There is a team that will gladly take Tua and wait a season. This is exactly the type of selection the Patriots would make on their end of the 1st round pick.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:35 PM ^
This was my thought exactly. Teams like the Pats, Saints, Chargers, etc with aging franchise QBs would and should be willing to take a gamble on Tua. Give him a full year or two to learn from All-Pro/All-Time QB before he has to take the reins.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
Pats won’t need a QB for another 10 years.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:09 PM ^
It’s amazing how wrong all of you are. The correct answer is: rehab, graduate, then enroll and play at the university of Michigan.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:29 PM ^
I'd sleep at a Holiday Inn Express before making any important decision. Maybe ask the Magic Conch.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:30 PM ^
Kick Nick Saban in the balls with his good leg.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:58 PM ^
The doctors cleared him.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:59 PM ^
I’m sure Alabama’s medical staff is not at all under pressure to do stuff like clear questionable players and medical guys Saban wants out. It’s not like Alabama isn’t a cheating football factory or anything.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:20 PM ^
You're accusing the doctors of cheating. They are accountable to the NCAA. You better report them.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:20 PM ^
MSU coaches, trainers and Doctors say hello.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:30 PM ^
I’m sure they’ll get on it right after they deal with chase young.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:32 PM ^
The injury sounds quite serious. He probably won’t be able to make any decisions until he has a better sense of his prognosis but it may make sense for him to stay in school and prepare himself for life without football in case that is his future.
November 17th, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
If going 2020 draft he has to declare by January 20th
November 17th, 2019 at 8:29 PM ^
No, it's 100% go pro. He will get drafted, his contract will be many times the cost of tuition, he will rehab more effectively in the pros.
Unless all the doctors tell him it's career ending and therefore no NFL team will draft him, there's no reason in hell for him to return to Bama.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:39 PM ^
Definitely declare for draft. He is too big of a talent for NFL teams to pass on
November 17th, 2019 at 6:32 PM ^
double post
November 17th, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
The safest thing would be to stay at Bama until he's fully healed and able to prove it with his play. The only reason not to do that would be if he gets some serious guarantees from a team that will draft him in the top five and rehab him until he's ready.
I can't imagine a team would do that at this point though.
November 17th, 2019 at 7:08 PM ^
It would be interesting to see what happens if he dies that, and the effect on QB recruiting/bringing in transfers. We’re at the point now that any guy with potential is going to bolt if there is no clear and immediate path to start.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:55 PM ^
This injury just got a lot more serious.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:36 PM ^
Haha well played!
November 17th, 2019 at 6:37 PM ^
consult the bag man
November 17th, 2019 at 6:39 PM ^
Learn how to read... then transfer to Michigan
November 17th, 2019 at 6:56 PM ^
Remember the Alabama fan who worried that Tua might have issues running the offense because he didn't speak English, and would need to do so, or at least establish some kind of hand signals he could use to communicate with the rest of the offense? That was awesome...
November 17th, 2019 at 10:42 PM ^
Lmao, I would pay a dollar to hear that guy pronounce Tua’s full name.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:18 AM ^
I thought consensus was that that was an epic troll job?