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INDIANAPOLIS — Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa received positive feedback from NFL team doctors who conducted his hours-long medical exam at the NFL Scouting Combine.

According to NFL Network, Tagovailoa will continue rehab toward the goal the national title-winning quarterback stated on Tuesday during his press conference — to be fully cleared on March 9 by the surgeon who operated on his dislocated hip.

Tagovailoa said he arrived for his medical work at the combine at 10 a.m. on Monday. He didn’t return to the players hotel until 7:49 p.m., with interviews starting at 8 p.m.

Doctors poked, prodded, bent and X-rayed Tagovailoa from every angle to gauge his recovery from known injuries — a fractured hand, ankle surgery and, most recently, hip surgery.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Tuesday that Cincinnati, which owns the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, would not overlook Tagovailoa’s injury history but also couldn’t ignore his impressive body of work at Alabama, where he finished with a 22-2 record as a starter. The Bengals met with Tagovailoa on Monday night.

“Really impressive individual,” Taylor said. “State champion in high school, won a college championship of course. The guy has been a champion on every level.”

Tagovailoa will not participate in on-field workouts in Indianapolis on Thursday with the quarterback class. He still has time, however, to show he belongs in the conversation with LSU’s Joe Burrow, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Georgia’s Jake Fromm and Washington’s Jacob Eason in what is regarded as a very good crop of quarterbacks.

He measured officially in Indianapolis at 6-0, 217 pounds with 9 7/8-inch hands.



April 9 is the scheduled personal pro day for Tagovailoa, when he said he plans to “do everything” teams want to see from him — run the 40-yard dash, throw from the pocket, throw on the move, get measured in the broad jump.

Tagovailoa said he enters the NFL wanting to be on the field now, but would warmly embrace the opportunity to learn from an established starter. It’s the path he took behind Jalen Hurts at Alabama.

“As a competitor, I want to be able to play,” Tagovailoa said Tuesday. “You look at the guys that are great and able to play and they’ve been mentored by (established) quarterbacks.”

–By Jeff Reynolds (@ReynoldsJD), Field Level Media