{"id":123828,"date":"2020-01-07T17:22:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T01:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=123828"},"modified":"2020-01-08T09:31:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T17:31:35","slug":"despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tua Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early to Enter NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa announced on Monday that he will forego his senior season and become eligible for this year\u2019s NFL Draft. He makes the move to go pro despite suffering a hip dislocation<\/a> in November that prematurely ended his time with the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (left) announced on Monday he would forego his senior season with the Crimson Tide to enter the NFL Draft in April. He did that despite suffering a hip injury that could keep him from being a high pick. (Image: Crimson Tide Photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tagovailoa told reporters Monday that he\u2019s entering the draft despite not knowing just how long he\u2019ll need to recover from the injury he sustained against Mississippi State on Nov. 16.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think that any of the doctors can tell the foreseeable future. None of the guys rehabbing me can tell that,” he said. “From what they\u2019ve seen in New York, everything looks good. But you can\u2019t really tell until the three-month mark or the four-month mark.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The deadline for underclassmen to enter the NFL Draft is Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

The quarterback burst on the scene as a freshman coming off the bench in the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship Game to rally Bama from a 13-0 deficit to win the title in overtime. He became the starter last season and guided them back to the title game before losing to Clemson.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa started the season along with Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence as the favorites for the Heisman Trophy. However, even though he had thrown for 2,840 yards and enjoyed a 33-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio, his Heisman stock fell even before his injury as LSU signal caller and eventual winner Joe Burrow emerged on the scene.<\/p>\n

Tua Longshot for Top Pick<\/h2>\n

The uncertainty about Tagovailoa\u2019s prognosis does make projecting his NFL stock a riskier endeavor. He told reporters Monday that some are considering his hip injury like a knee injury. How the hip heals will be critical as talent evaluators consider if Tagovailoa can be a mobile quarterback in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\n

While Tagovailoa certainly has the arm strength to play quarterback, he\u2019s listed at 6-1 at Alabama, and it remains to be seen what his height will be in NFL evaluations. That\u2019s about two inches shorter than the average quarterback. If his ability to scramble becomes limited as a result of the injury, then he could face a long slide in the draft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Most sportsbooks have odds for just the top pick in the April draft posted right now. Tagovailoa is listed at +1600 at DraftKings and +1200 at FanDuel. He\u2019s the third choice at both.<\/p>\n

PointsBet also lists Tagovailoa as the third choice at +1600. But after he made his announcement, the sportsbook available in New Jersey and Iowa posted an over\/under on his selection.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the odds for over 4.5 were set at -250, with under posted at +200. By Tuesday evening (ET), those odds shifted to -200 for the over and +160 for under.<\/p>\n

Some mock drafts already have Tagovailoa going fifth in the draft, a spot held by the Miami Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Burrow Favorite for Top Pick<\/h2>\n

Not only did Burrow win the Heisman, the senior LSU quarterback also established himself as the heavy favorite to be the top pick in the draft.<\/p>\n

PointsBet and DraftKings both list Burrow at -1250, meaning a $1,250 bet would win $100. FanDuel offers him at -1150.<\/p>\n

It seems almost certain the Cincinnati Bengals will take Burrow with the number one pick. However, Burrow does have one game left \u2013 this year\u2019s CFP National Championship<\/a> against defending champion Clemson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa announced on Monday that he will forego his senior season and become eligible for this year\u2019s NFL Draft. He makes the move to go pro despite suffering a hip dislocation in November that prematurely ended his time with the Crimson Tide. Tagovailoa told reporters Monday that he\u2019s entering the draft despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":123834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDespite Injury Uncertainty, Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early for NFL Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At least one sportsbook has former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a projected top five pick in April's NFL Draft.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early for NFL Draft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At least one sportsbook has former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a projected top five pick in April's NFL Draft.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-08T01:22:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-08T17:31:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"711\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/\",\"name\":\"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early for NFL Draft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-08T01:22:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-08T17:31:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"At least one sportsbook has former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a projected top five pick in April's NFL Draft.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png\",\"width\":1067,\"height\":711,\"caption\":\"(Image: Crimson Tide Photos)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tua Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early to Enter NFL Draft\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early for NFL Draft","description":"At least one sportsbook has former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a projected top five pick in April's NFL Draft.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early for NFL Draft","og_description":"At least one sportsbook has former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a projected top five pick in April's NFL Draft.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-01-08T01:22:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-08T17:31:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1067,"height":711,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/","name":"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early for NFL Draft","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png","datePublished":"2020-01-08T01:22:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-08T17:31:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"At least one sportsbook has former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a projected top five pick in April's NFL Draft.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-01-07.png","width":1067,"height":711,"caption":"(Image: Crimson Tide Photos)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/despite-injury-uncertainty-tagovailoa-leaves-alabama-early-for-nfl-draft\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Despite Injury Uncertainty, Tua Tagovailoa Leaves Alabama Early to Enter NFL Draft"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123828"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}