Your point just doesn’t make sense. Based on your logic, no college player who might eventually play in the NFL should risk playing in any game because he might get injured and that could effect his draft status or his possible career in the NFL.
I have no problem with players being drafted right out of high school if they are talented enough but the fact is every single football player at every level could have a career ending injury on any given play. That is just the reality of playing the game of football.
If Tua didn’t want to be in the game when his hip was injured, he obviously could have asked to be taken out because Alabama had a big lead at the time. Yet he loves playing the game and he obviously wanted to be in the game when he was injured. The way he was tackled on the play he was injured could happen any time in any game. Bo Jackson was injured on a play where he was tackled from behind and the hit didn’t even look serious at the time he dislocated his hip which eventually ended his football career.
If you want football players to avoid serious injury, outlaw tackling and blocking and just play flag football. Because human bodies are not made to take the punishment of tackle football for an extended period of time without eventually suffering damage.
As far as your statement goes that I’m not bright enough to see that Tua hurt his draft stock by playing this season. The fact is that if he had just refused to play this season and waited for the 2020 draft, his draft stock could have dropped. Because the last game NFL staffs would have seen him in was the Clemson game last year and he wasn’t very good in that game and Hurts had to come in the game before Clemson to help Alabama pull out a win because Tua was not effective in that game Either.
If anything, by playing in 2019 Tua only enhanced his draft status and he will remain a high draft selection if he is medically cleared. If he isn’t cleared medically within the next few months, he can always return to Alabama and wait for the 2021 draft and by then his recovery should be complete. In fact because of the injury this should show him how important getting a college education is. Because he can’t assume football will be there for long. If Tua is smart, he will return to Alabama and get his degree while giving his hip and ankle plenty of time to heal. I have no doubt he will still be a high draft pick in 2021 if he is healthy and waits for a year to enter the draft.
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