Ladies and gentleman, the Cincinnati Bengals are on the clock. Since LSU stormed their way to the National Championship, it's been widely assumed that the Bingles will make Joe Burrow the number one overall pick. Not even a nine-inch hand size spooked off Kiper and the rest of the Big Board soothsayers, who still have the Southern Ohio kid staying put. But what if we told you that a new contender has stepped into the ring and that that contender was, in fact, the only contender all along? What if we told you his career-threatening hip injury looks just fine? What if we told you, after watching these videos posted to IG on Monday, that Tua Tagovailoa will be the actual first QB off the board come April? What would you say to that?
The footwork is crisp, a rhythmic machine gun ratatat. The release is smooth, not quite the Marino framerate glitch, but still upper echelon. But it's the lateral movement that's really gonna send Todd McShay scrambling for his dry erase marker. This is what the hip dislocation and resulting posterior fracture were really going to impact, the experts said. It'S tHe SAmE iNJuRy tHaT eNdEd bO jACkSon'S cAreEr! Well, apparently not. Even King of Quarterbacks Trent Dilfer approves, and if you're not listening to Trent Dilfer, then who the hell are you listening to?
Still Team Joe? Well consider 2018, when Sam Darnold was the presumptive number one overall pick until the Mayfield portfolio went through the roof the week before the Draft. Come Draft Night, the flashy tape monster was first to the podium while your dad's quarterback had to wait until number three. Granted, that was the Cleveland Browns, but this is the Cincinnati Bengals. Potato, potahto.
So yeah, we're not saying bet the house on it . . . but maybe the car.
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