There is the factor that Joe is a student of the game who lives and breathes football. He has a Peyton Manning type approach to the game. Does Tua even without the injuries would he just rely on his natural talent. If you remember Miami offered everything plus the kitchen sink to move up from #3 to #1. With the Redskins having drafted Dwayne Haskins the year before Miami could have been content with standing pat. Since they were aware of the fact the there was a greater than 99% chance the Bengals would draft Burrow they pretty much knew the Tua would be available at the 3 slot. Why would they try to move up unless their target was Joe Burrow?
The Good Morning Football cast was talking about him the other morning, and their big takeaway from talking to scouts is, while yes, you really only had the one standout year from Joe, you also had him only one year in an NFL offense. I don't think anyone would argue that, had LSU not changed the offense last year, Joe's not even in the conversation for the number one pick. I think he would certainly have improved his draft status from 2018, which at the time was undrafted. But the reality was that Joe got to show what he could do with an NFL-style offense. Reality was also that Tua didn't finish the season, and played hurt for a time when he did play at all. Its all what if now....what if Tua had stayed healthy....what if the Dolphins had the #1 pick, what if the WFT had the #1, and on and on..... In a discussion of "who goes first, healthy Tua or reality Joe", certainly some teams would have gone for Tua and some would have gone for Joe.
