Paul Finebaum reacts to Taulia Tagovailoa's reported offer from SEC team

After Taulia Tagovailoa said he was offered $1.5 million to transfer to an SEC school, Paul Finebuam believed him, but only to an extent.

The SEC Network host chalked it up to pretty much every good quarterback last season was going to be “available” in the transfer portal for the right price. Whether or not they chose to chase the bag is a separate issue.

Tagovailoa returned to Maryland for the 2023 season, rather than go to the third school of his college career.

“Oh, the easiest thing in the world is to elaborate on whatever you got offered,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “I believe he got offered. I mean, we all heard his name being mentioned, but by the way, every good quarterback in the country’s name got mentioned. I can think of, let’s see off the top of my head, three quarterbacks in the ACC right now whose names were connected to Alabama, and didn’t go. 

“And then of course, there was Devin Leary who did go (to Kentucky) so yeah, I think that’s fairly easy to understand. Do I believe somebody offered him a million and a half dollars? Actually no, I don’t. I hope (Taulia) is as good on connecting on touchdown passes as he is with his imagination … We know Mike Locksley did not match that offer if he came to him with this.”

Tagovailoa described the offer, a reported $1.5 million from an unnamed SEC team, as “crazy money” in a story that appeared in The Athletic detailing the news.

“It can be eye-opening, but I think for my situation — if I was in a different situation where maybe I didn’t have a brother in the NFL or maybe my parents, it’d be a different situation,” Tagovailoa told The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder.

It’s not that Tagovailoa isn’t a good quarterback, but Finebaum was hard pressed to believe the offer was that high. And it might be hard to believe that the quarterback would turn it down.

But, such is loyalty for some athletes. North Carolina’s Drake Maye is a good example of a high-end quarterback who was rumored to be tested by Alabama and others to enter the transfer portal.

But he’s back in Chapel Hill this fall.

In the last two years, Tagovailoa accounted for 6,868 passing yards with 44 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. He ran for another six scores.

He’s been a huge part of the reason Maryland won seven and eight games over the last two seasons after combining for just five wins total the previous two seasons.

In short, Tagovailoa is indispensable.