Is Tua Tagovailoa A 2020 Fantasy Buy?
I am sure TUANIGAMENUOLEPOLA got away with writing “Tua” as his name in school, but sheesh, having to write a 18 letter first name on all official paperwork can’t be a good time.
Tua Tagovailoa – you know, the guy that replaced Jaylen Hurts in the second half to lead the Tide to a 2018 championship by throwing three touchdowns. He came in the game like Sunshine in Remember The Titans and didn’t look back.
Unneeded to say that Jalen Hurts didn’t exactly take the Rev supporting role on the team after transferring to Oklahoma. That is neither here nor there.
Tua is a cheap buy in drafts for the quarterback position and I am not opposed to drafting him for the following reasons:
I like the talent of the ‘phin pass catchers. I might be the first person in years to say that in regard to the collective team.
DeVante Parker didn’t break out as a receiver last year, he broke out as a physical specimen. At 6’3”, all he did was high point and win 50/50 balls, literally Mossing every corner in his path to the trajectory of the football. He also finished the season as the seventh best WR in 2019 (.5 PPR).
Mossed, mossed, mossed, and mossed
Preston Williams was starting to find his footing as a promising Rookie prior to being put on the IR with a season ending knee injury. Standing at 6’5”, I can’t help but make the Plaxico Burress comparison. Another guy that will win jump balls.
Are we sure that isn’t Plaxico in a Miami uniform?
Mike Gesicki, well, everyone is on him and industry leaders Mike Wright and Jeff Ratcliffe are making sure of it. Thanks for escalating that one, @selway151.
On teams where I draft any of the three players above, I have added in shares of Tua as it provides a great opportunity to stack at a cheap price (~17th round or later ADP).
Tua won’t even start! I imagine that Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the starter to begin the season and I love Fitzmagic. However, the Dolphins didn’t draft Tua to not be the future. Unfortunately for Fitzmagic, he never can seem to string together a consistent well played season. He has moments of boom and moments of doom. History has shown that it only takes a couple weeks of doom for coaches to grow impatient. A couple examples include: Geno Smith on the Jets and most recently Jameis Winston in Tampa Bay. Both coaches handed the keys to the ‘future’ quarterbacks and sat Fitzpatrick on the pine. I hate writing that because GAWD I love Fitzpatrick, but it’s the sad reality that unfortunately that ‘great’ fantasy producers don’t always tend to be winning players. That’s Ryan Fitzpatrick’s volatile performance to a T.
To conclude, I believe that Tua will get his shot sooner rather than later to the lead team, and no matter what by the end of the season. If his shot comes at the end of the season, I am fine with that because he will be Unleashd. By Unleashd, I mean he will have the opportunity to sling with nothing to lose because Miami will in all likeliness not be in running contention to make the playoffs. That alone has value as other quarterbacks could be injured, or even not playing the last couple weeks because they have clinched the playoffs.
A quarterback like Tua has the talent, but he also has talent around him to succeed. Only needing to throw it up near DeVante, Preston, or Gesicki seems like a good gig to be in. Tuas’ potential at quarterback with surrounding talent could be the combination for boom production. Light exposure (~10%) seems worth the reward when the risk is low cost in current best ball drafts. Plus, the reward could be 2x when pairing him with one of the mentioned receivers.
With that - Hakuna-matata!!!
Doesn’t hakuna-matata seem like it should be a Hawaiian saying and not East African?
