Carolina Panthers Draft: Should they take a chance on Tua Tagovailoa?

The Carolina Panthers have a lot of tough decisions to make during the 2020 NFL Draft. Should they take a chance and draft a future franchise quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa?

At this point in time, the Carolina Panthers are pretty much set when it comes to their quarterback situation. In free agency, they signed Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year deal so he can hold down the fort as they rebuild for a better future. Hopefully, things work out well with him under center but there is still a chance that they may not.

Besides Bridgewater, the Panthers also signed XFL star quarterback P.J. Walker as competition for the positional group. Backup quarterback Will Grier will also return as the Panthers will head into training camp with three quarterbacks ready to compete for the starting role. It’s expected that Bridgewater will be the best option under center and either Grier or Walker being his backup. It wouldn’t make sense for the Panthers to start the season with three active quarterbacks unless, well, something happens in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Joe Barnathan of Forbes wrote an interesting preview for the Panthers as they prepare for this year’s draft and pretty much agreed with what the majority are saying. It looks like they’ll focus on defense first and then address some of their issues on offense in later rounds. Barnathan made a great point about how the Panthers should consider the idea of possibly using the No. 7 overall pick to draft Tua Tagovailoa out of Alabama.

The Carolina Panthers should stay away from Tua Tagovailoa

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Now, it must be said that yes, the Panthers need to bolster their defense big time as it’s a huge area of need. They need talent on their defensive line, at linebacker, and even on the defensive secondary. Could general manager Marty Hurney use this premium top-ten pick on a quarterback instead?

In the grand scheme of things, any good general manager will look at every way to help their team win football games and it doesn’t get any bigger than the most important position on the team. While it’s easy to see Barnathan’s point about taking a chance on Tagovailoa, the Panthers are better off working with the quarterbacks they have now and stick to drafting a top defensive player with the No. 7 overall pick.

The Panthers invested $63 million into Bridgewater to be their starting quarterback for at least the next few years as it wouldn’t make sense to use such a high draft pick on another quarterback that is coming off a major injury. It’s no secret that Tagavailoa could be the next big thing at quarterback if healthy but as of right now, he’s coming off major surgery to repair a dislocated hip. That’s not good news at all to invest such a high draft pick on a quarterback that won’t be ready until 2021 or later.

As a matter of fact, many draft analysts predict that due to Tagavailoa’s injury, he’s going to slide big time down the draft order to where he might not even be a first-round pick. Now, if Tagavailoa was healthy and ready to play, it’s a whole different story. He would easily be a top quarterback with plenty of teams interested in acquiring his services.

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It just wouldn’t make any sense for the Panthers, a rebuilding team, to gamble the No. 7 overall pick on an injured quarterback when they have so many other pressing needs to address on defense. At the end of the day, if they truly need a new franchise quarterback for the future, they should wait until next year’s draft or even the draft after that. For now, it’s all about bolstering their defense, especially with how terrible it’s been over the years.

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