The Miami Dolphins had plenty of options with their first of three first-round selections in the 2020 NFL Draft. Thanks to the plethora of picks at their disposal, the Dolphins had enough ammunition to trade up and steal the show.
Such a trade never occurred, but it wasn't for a lack of trying, as the Dolphins did indeed try to trade up to the No. 1 pick. The Cincinnati Bengals didn't budge, leaving Miami to stay put at No. 5 and select Tua Tagovailoa.
"Like I said, we made our calls to everyone," Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said. "Yes, we spoke (to Cincinnati) to see if they were interested. So yes, we talked to everyone – every team in the league. It was no different.
"Every team makes those calls so yes, we reached out."
While the Dolphins weren't able to trade up to No. 1, they still ended up as the big winners of the draft. Miami didn't have to trade up to select Tagovailoa, a home run pick at No. 5 and the franchise quarterback the Dolphins haven't had since Dan Marino retired at the end of the 1999 season.
"We've always talked about going through the process. (Dolphins head coach) Brian (Flores), myself, the coaching staff and scouts – watching him for a couple years and finally getting – meeting him at the combine and getting to know (Tagovailoa) and find out what type of person he really is, which we all heard great things," Grier said. "You really get to sit down and talk to people and you don't really truly know.
"I think for us, it was going through our process. There were a lot of talented players and we really liked Tua and we felt very comfortable at the end of the day that he would be a fit here and bringing him here."
The Dolphins probably would have had to trade up and get Tagovailoa in most years. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Miami was restricted in its access to Tagovailoa, not being able to get him into the building for a physical and a pre-draft visit. The medical concerns were a factor in Tagovailoa slipping to No. 5, right where the Dolphins picked.
Will Tagovailoa be ready to play by Week 1 of the regular season? For now, the Dolphins are in the dark.
"Look, we haven't even seen him," Grier said. "Obviously with the pandemic and all that's going on, our doctors haven't seen him. We have a long way to go before we can say who's doing what.
"We have to just get him and have a meeting first. I think it's way too early to speculate on this year and how this is going to go. You guys know we like to take a one day at a time approach anyway. That's going to be the approach I'm going to have him take as well."
