Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm forever will be linked by the national championship game of the 2017 season and the Southeastern Conference title contest in 2018.
Could they also be linked as selections picked close together when the 2020 NFL draft starts Thursday night?
Cian Fahey thinks so.
The former ESPN analyst now with QB Data Mine is much higher on Fromm than most and much lower on Tagovailoa. Fahey's concerns with Tagovailoa, and he isn't alone in this area, begin with the hip injury he sustained at Mississippi State this past November.
"You can't ignore the hip," Fahey said. "If it was a knee, it wouldn't be the same thing, because we've seen so many knee injuries and have gone through the blueprint for that. Hip injuries are something that we think of for 60-year-old men and not 22-year-old NFL players. People who live well with hip injuries are not playing in the NFL.
"If he was fully healthy, I think you could build an offense around him, but the question becomes is he so talented that you can ignore the hip injury? I tend to think not. I think he's a guy you take in the second round or maybe late in the first. You sit him in that rookie year and see if it will work after that."
Crimson Tide Photos photo by Robert Sutton / Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had his 2019 junior season with the Crimson Tide ended prematurely by a hip injury.Fahey makes his living studying NFL quarterbacks. He charted 15,379 throws last season and has done his share of delving into passes made by a handful of the top draft hopefuls, a crop headed by former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
His studies from last season revealed that Derek Carr was the NFL's most accurate quarterback despite playing for the 7-9 Oakland Raiders and that Jameis Winston's league-leading 30 interceptions could have gone as high as 51 had it not been for dropped passes by defenders.
When discussing Tagovailoa and Fromm, his viewpoint is quite different from an ESPN list this past weekend that had Tagovailoa the No. 9 overall prospect and Fromm No. 76, which would place him in third-round territory.
"I find Jake Fromm intriguing," Fahey said. "I can understand why he's not a top pick, but I think he makes sense as a second-round developmental pick. It's possible that the (New England) Patriots could be looking at him - and this is complete speculation on my part - based on the simple fact Fromm is very good pre-snap and very good at making decisions at the line of scrimmage and figuring out where he's going as soon as he gets the ball.
"The question marks are how he adjusts after that and whether his arm is good enough to be splitting tight windows in the NFL. Is he going to come in and hit receivers deep? I don't think so, but you do have a quarterback who can figure out how to play in smaller boxes Chad Pennington-style. Fromm is really going to have to rely on his intelligence and making the underneath throws."
The Athletic last week released the Wonderlic scores of the quarterbacks when they were tested at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. Fromm scored a 35 and Tagovailoa a 13, but Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson made a 13 at the 2018 combine and is the reigning league MVP.
Tagovailoa and Fromm combined to throw 165 touchdowns against just 29 interceptions during their three seasons as college players, and their combined record as starters was 57-9.
While Fahey is concerned about Tagovailoa's health, he does not believe Tagovailoa being left-handed will serve as any kind of hindrance. The last left-handed quarterback to throw an NFL pass was Kellen Moore, the current Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator who last played in the league in 2015.
"I know former receivers will tell you there is a different spin on the ball, but receivers can get used to that," Fahey said. "It could serve to Tua's advantage, because a lot of defensive backs breaking to the ball are already pretty bad at catching the ball in the first place, and they won't be used to that spin if there is indeed a difference.
"What's important for Tua is how he plays on the move. He's not a running quarterback, but he will extend plays and does throw on the run. How that translates is more important than him being left-handed."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.