MLive issued the following announcement on Jan. 31.
MIAMI -- There are a lot of people wondering whether the Detroit Lions should draft Tua Tagovailoa.
But what if Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t want to be drafted by Detroit?
There apparently isn’t a lot of love for the Lions from the Tagovailoa family, according to a report in the Miami Herald: "Sources close to Tagovailoas say the Alabama quarterback would love for the Dolphins to trade up to No. 3 to select him. Those same sources say they don’t love the idea of Detroit actually picking Tua because of the arc of that team’s current coaching situation.
“The Lions will be playing their third season under Matt Patricia in 2020. He has a 9-22-1 record his first two seasons and the Tagovailoas are concerned another poor season could force the Lions to fire Patricia -- putting the quarterback in the uncertain 2021 situation of being a draft pick the new coach didn’t make.”
Patricia won just six games after being hired away from New England in 2018, then another three games while being pummelled by injuries across the roster in 2019. That includes at quarterback, where Matthew Stafford missed the final eight games with a back injury. Detroit lost all eight games.
But ownership said it has seen progress, with Patricia in particular and the program in general. They believe a foundation has been laid the last two years, and injuries -- 16 players finished the season on IR -- masked the progress.
The Fords elected to stick with Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn for another season, but it’s clear they’ll be on a short leash.
“We expect to be a playoff contender (next year)," owner Martha Firestone Ford said. "Those are our expectations, which we’ve expressed to both Bob and to Matt.”
Original source can be found here.
Source: MLive
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