Nick Saban: Teams that pass on Tua will regret it like Dolphins did when they passed on Drew Brees

Tribune Content Agency

Former Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban still regrets passing on Drew Brees as a free agent in 2006. Saban, who has coached at Alabama the last 13 years after abruptly leaving the Dolphins, warns NFL teams that passing on Tua Tagovailoa could prove just as costly.

Saban told Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal that the Dolphins will be making a similar mistake if they pass on Tagovailoa — his quarterback the last three years — in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night.

“We failed Drew Brees on the physical. That’s why he’s not Miami’s quarterback,” Saban was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal article.

“The sky’s the limit,” Saban said of Tagovailoa, whose various injuries over the years have raised durability concerns with NFL teams. “I don’t think any of the questions with Tua have to do with his ability to throw the ball and be effective.”

No decision set the Dolphins back more than passing on Brees after the Dolphins’ medical staff said his ailing shoulder would never heal again. And no miss has caused more heartache — as Brees continued on to a Hall of Fame career with the New Orleans Saints.

The Dolphins signed an aging and less injured Daunte Culpepper instead.

The Dolphins have used 14 different starting quarterbacks since passing on Brees 14 years ago — and 21 since Dan Marino retired nearly 21 years ago.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Tagovailoa, who may be the riskiest draft prospect in recent history, appears to have made significant strides in rehabbing his surgically repaired hip.

The Dolphins’ much-anticipated decision on which quarterback the team will likely draft with the No. 5 pick has been hotly debated for months — Tagovailoa or Oregon’s Justin Herbert.

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