McNabb: Jordan Love Is “A Wild Card”

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It’s incredible how much can change in a year. Twelve months ago, “Tank for Tua” was a real thing. With the 2020 NFL Draft just days away, however, Tua Tagovailoa almost certainly won’t be the first quarterback off the board. In fact, he might fall out of the top five altogether. Joe Burrow, meanwhile, is considered a generational prospect at QB.

Again, it’s funny how much can change in a year.

“If Joe Burrow doesn’t throw 60 touchdowns this year and he kind of has just a little bit better year than he had last year, Joe Burrow might be a fourth-, fifth-round draft pick,” Donovan McNabb said on Tiki & Tierney. “Tua [would have been] the No. 1 quarterback taken.”

Aside from Burrow and Tagovailoa, Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Utah State’s Jordan Love are the top quarterback prospects in this year’s class.

“Jordan Love, he’s a Wild Card because of what we’ve seen from Pat Mahomes, what we’ve seen from Deshaun Watson, what we’ve seen from Lamar Jackson,” McNabb said. “Now everybody wants that type of gadget, where, ‘This kid can sling it. Now if we put him in a great, organized offense with some talent around him, all of a sudden we might have something special on our hands.’ That’s when it comes to coaching.”

Love was far better in 2018 than 2019, at least statistically, but that had a lot to do with the pieces around him. He lost almost all of his wide receiver production, along with four starting offensive linemen, from 2018 to 2019. 

Of the top four quarterbacks, McNabb believes Love might be the best athlete.

“Who’s the most mobile?” he asked. “They’re trying to throw Justin Herbert in there because he ran a 4.6, but he’s not a mobile quarterback. Tua is really not a mobile quarterback. He has the ability to run, but he’s more of a pocket passer. So out of the four, the only athlete is Jordan Love. Who’s the most accurate quarterback? I would say Tua is the most accurate quarterback. So I just think where we are right now with the draft, until draft day, it’s going to be guys moving around like chess pieces. Joe Burrow is going to be No. 1, but after that, it’s going to be a domino effect of who wants to do what.”