Bengals meet with Tua Tagovailoa; Bama QB open to Cincinnati

All the news around the Bengals’ first overall pick has been around Joe Burrow (with good reason), However, Tua Tagovailoa is a name that is also still in consideration. The Alabama quarterback met with the Bengals on Monday night.

This will likely get some jeers from Bengals’ fans who have fallen in love with Burrow, but the reality is this is what the higher ups in Cincinnati get paid to do. They have the first overall pick, and they don’t need to make the pick in February. They have to do their due diligence.

Tagovailoa was the top quarterback prior to the 2019 season, and even up until his hip injury against LSU, he was still viewed as one of the top quarterbacks right alongside Burrow. He has a history of success. He won a National Championship in 2017, and was a huge reason as to why Alabama returned to the Championship game in 2018. His team was also well on its way to the NCAA playoffs again in 2019 prior to his injury.

It also appears that Tagovailoa was impressed with what Cincinnati was selling (or at least okay with it).

Some fans may read too much into all of this. Especially since the Bengals won’t meet with Burrow until Wednesday night. There really isn’t anything to read into other than the fact that Cincinnati is meeting with both quarterbacks, and they are still doing their homework.

Some may be scared off by Tagovailoa’s injury history, but if he never got injured this past season this wouldn’t be as cut and dry of a decision. He was a very talented quarterback who more than earned the praise of being QB1 going into 2019. Even in just nine games, Tagovailoa threw for nearly 3,000 yards, 33 touchdowns and only three interceptions while completing over 70 percent of his passes.

Burrow will still likely be the pick come April, but you can’t blame the Bengals for taking a close look at everyone in the conversation to make sure they end up with the right guy.