Hey all,
I know Colin Cowherd inspires a strong reaction, but I stumbled upon this today and really liked his points. There isn't much else going on right now, and rather than argue about what uniform we should wear, I thought I would post this. I see lots of comments on the forum about Tua not making it through an OTA before he breaks, and I thought Cowherd did a nice job of pointing out why he would have taken Tua no matter what people think about his injuries.
This is from before the draft.
Always like hearing Cowherd's take. He's smart and makes a lot of good points, even if he's not entirely objective. He sidesteps things sometimes and makes mountains out of molehills other times, but in general, I like him and value his perspective. He made a lot of very good points in this video, and I'm glad to have watched it. None of them changed my opinion though.
I was and still am of the mind that Tua is injury-prone. This is why I was so disappointed that the OL we drafted are NOT ready for prime time and only Jackson even looks to be someone who will eventually be a strong pass protector. If we're investing the next 5+ years into Tua ... we need to protect that investment into the 6'0 QB who had 5 surgeries in the last 2 years. We need to get pass protectors for the guy who had a potentially career-ending hip injury, similar to what happened to Mike Pouncey. We didn't do that.
As for Cowherd's arguments about Tua, well he once again sidestepped the real issue. The issue can be categorized as how many games he plays, but that's really a symptom of the root of the issue which is injuries. Tua had 5 injuries that required surgery in 2 years. For a 20 year old kid, that's a lot of surgeries. It definitely shows a frailty, no matter how you spin it. The injuries Cowherd tried to compare to other NFL players was a bit of a joke. Mahomes had one concerning surgery, the wrist, and yes, everyone knew about it. He recovered. His stock dropped in the pre-draft run-up because of it, but the Chiefs and QB guru Andy Reid handled it just right. They protected him for all of his rookie season only running him out to get the first-game, first-hit, first-INT jitters out of the kid's system before offseason #2, and I think we should do exactly the same thing for Tua.
Let's examine Cowherd's hypotheticals.
1. What if Tua only plays 11 of 16 games a year and wins 9?
Well, 11 of 16 sounds plausible. That's a very realistic estimate, and sure, he could play more, possibly even all 16. But the winning percentage on winning 9 of 11 is preposterous. It's so far above Bill Belichick and Tom Brady's win percentage that it's laughable. That metric (winning 9 of 11 starts) simply is not realistic. Cowherd couches it in what seems like a generous premise of only playing 11 of 16 games. So the reader is lulled into sleep for the clearly unrealistic part of the hypothetical. What Cowherd really is trying to say in a convoluted way is that what if Tua wins 9 of 16 games? Well that is realistic. But, it is also rather boring and obvious, so his listeners wouldn't tune in to hear that. Again, it sidesteps the issue of whether Tua is injury prone, and posits ... so what, even if he is, we only care about winning games.
2. Sit Tua as a rookie and he balls out the remaining 3 years of his 4 year contract even if you do not extend him.
Well sure, we're all betting and expecting that Tua will show why he was considered one of the very top prospects at QB in this draft. The issue isn't his off-field behavior, his vision, his accuracy, or even his size really. The only issue is can he stay healthy ... and Cowherd doesn't really address that issue. IF Tua stays healthy, we EXPECT him to develop into a great QB. We'd expect that of any QB taken that high in the draft. Colin telling us that other NFL QB's have been injured soothes our ears, but does not address whether Tua is injury-prone. His semi-argument is ... well it's OK to be injury-prone. I disagree. Andrew Luck fizzled out because of injuries. Great prospect. Big Ben didn't have nearly the injury issues he has today when he was Tua's age, but Big Ben has an extra decade of NFL 16+ game schedule of hits against NFL defenses ... Tua does not. Sure, Ben didn't play all those games, because he was out injured times, and as he ages the injury issues become larger and larger ... but he is cut some slack after having proven to be the fulcrum of Super Bowl teams and the Pittsburgh franchise. We can only hope Tua reaches those heights to justify the payment and waiting on such a productive pro QB. Cowherd talks about everything BUT Tua's injuries. He makes the case for reasons why we shouldn't care about them, but he doesn't even try to deny that Tua is injury-prone.
IMHO, fun watch, but Cowherd in no way changes my opinion/fear that Tua is injury-prone. With all the hypotheticals he posed, I was disappointed he didn't even mention how we drafted road-grader run blockers instead of pass-protectors for our OL. Clearly, our front office is not investing in keeping Tua healthy ... and that only intensifies my worry.
