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The week leading up to the Super Bowl is always a media frenzy that expand beyond what is going on during Sunday.
We often hear plenty from the top prospects in the upcoming draft as well as it is their first real chance to make appearances out from under the veil of the NCAA. During this time, Tua Tagovailoa’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, made a radio appearance that went over like a lead balloon among Bengals fans.
Talking with @leighsteinberg asked his client Tua, and if he wants him to go No. 1 in upcoming #NFLDraft
— 97.3 ESPN FM (@973espn) January 30, 2020
“You want to make sure that your client ends up with a good organization....I’m hoping Cinncy falls in love with Joe Burrow".
It is hard to imagine why an agent, of all people, would make a statement like this. Agents are often hired to help make sure their client is cast in a good light leading up to the draft, and saying something like this has to be one of the biggest no no’s.
While Tagovailoa is making his rounds talking about how he will be at the NFL Combine to show off how well his injury has progressed (not to participate), his agent is making headlines by saying he hopes the first team that could possibly select him falls in love with another prospect.
Of course, following his statement gaining traction, Steinberg tweeted the following:
#BENGALS Someone @Bengals on radio row was teasing me bout Mike Brown and I made a joke,any client I have would be happy to go to Cincinnati,nice city,good folks
— Leigh Steinberg (@leighsteinberg) January 31, 2020
Trying to give Steinberg the benefit of the doubt, all Bengals fans can probably imagine that the Bengals’ owner Mike Brown may be one of the least favorite people among NFL free agents. Cincinnati has been infamously cheap in the past, and before the rookie wage scale being implemented, the Bengals routinely had first round picks holdout. Still, even with all that, Steinberg wouldn’t even have to worry about really dealing with Brown in the trenches for at least four years for an extension.
This all seems like a moot point as Cincinnati will more than likely draft Joe Burrow, and even on the off chance the Bengals were seriously considering taking Tagovailoa, this comment likely wouldn’t stop them anyway. However, it probably was pretty frustrating for Tagovailoa to have the news of him attending the NFL Combine overtaken by a numb skull comment from the guy you hired to make sure you look as good as possible.
Does this change anything? Probably not, but it is just annoying as fans to hear this from a prospects agent.