Would You Rather: Draft Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert in the First Round of the 2020 NFL Draft

Justin Herbert was held to 138 passing yards against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Justin Herbert was held to 138 passing yards against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. / Alika Jenner/Getty Images
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Entering the season, there was a clear-cut hierarchy among the top quarterback prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft. However, Joe Burrow's ascendance and Tua Tagovailoa's untimely injury have muddled things up a bit.

While Burrow now appears to be the consensus No. 1 option, there's a lot less certainty about who the second-best QB prospect is. The race does seem to generally boil down to two names though: Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert.

Though Tua hasn't officially declared, let's break down which quarterback you'd rather draft in 2020.

Tua Tagovailoa Draft Stock

Let's get one thing clear. If Tua hadn't hurt his hip, he'd likely still be the top-ranked passer in this class – even ahead of Burrow. You can't just ignore an injury of this magnitude, though. He's expected to make a full recovery, but he won't be able to even throw a football until the spring.

Essentially, if some team decides to take the plunge on him come April, they might have to do so without having seen him throw a football since mid-November. Still, this is the same guy who had 33 passing touchdowns to three interceptions, posting an NCAA-best 206.9 passer rating, through just nine games in 2019.

If he can return with no complications, getting him anywhere below the No. 1 overall pick would be a steal. But at this point, we don't know whether or not that's possible.

Justin Herbert Draft Stock

Herbert has everything you could want in a pro-style passer, but he's never been able to put it all together. His 6-foot-6 frame, rocket arm and mobility combine to give him one of the most tantalizing skillsets in the country.

However, he hasn't been at his best on the biggest stages (138 passing yards against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl), and he's been maddeningly inconsistent. He's been held below 250 passing yards nine times this season – something that has only happened to Tua twice this season, and he was pulled during a blow-out victory on both occasions.

Tua's injury history makes him the riskier pick of the two, and perhaps the riskiest first-round prospect in the draft. But when healthy, he's a historically talented player, and passers like him don't come around too often.

Even with the uncertainty around his hip, he's still the better prospect of the two.


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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.