Mike Lombardi Got Defensive About Claims He Spread Negative Rumors About Tua Tagovailoa to Benefit Patriots

Despite the injury concerns, there's still surely a handful of teams highly interested in selecting former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa early on in the NFL Draft. Each year around this time, conflicting reports emerge surrounding polarizing players in an attempt to discombobulate potential suitors, and Tua may not be immune to this particular kind of intrigue.

Michael Lombardi, a former NFL GM turned pundit and podcaster, has been accused of such antics after it was theorized that he was slamming Tagovailoa's surgically-repaired hip to benefit longtime friend and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

In the latest episode of his "GM Shuffle" podcast, Lombardi got strangely defensive while addressing those claims.

"I have talked to more and more teams and this whole notion that Lombardi is spreading this bad will about Tua because he wants his friend Bill Belichick to get him, like stop," Lombardi said. "I know that based on the Patriots’ grading system, a six-foot quarterback would have to be really, really elite over a long period of time for them to draft him."

As it turns out, it doesn't take much for Lombardi columnist to succumb to the wrath of his greatest trolls. We understand why he addressed the rumors -- there's no denying that they were damning if proven -- but it really makes you wonder why Lombardi was so bothered by them.

After all, the rumors carry hardly any significance. If the Patriots truly want to draft Tua, they would need to make some major moves in order to shoot up from the No. 23 overall pick, as Tagovailoa dropping out of the top 10 seems like a pipe dream at this rate.