Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa are battling it out for the starting quarterback job at Alabama this offseason, and after a poor spring game performance from Hurts, Tagovailoa appears to be the leader.

That has naturally fueled speculation that Hurts may transfer if he doesn’t win the starting job, but that may not be his best option.

On Monday morning, ESPN host Paul Finebaum joined “The Roundtable” on WJOX and said he thinks Hurts could choose to stay in Tuscaloosa this season and then pursue his graduate transfer options in 2019:

“It is possible, guys, that he truly likes being a student at the University of Alabama and has great confidence in his ability,” he said. “I’ve been around him a number of times, as I’m sure you have, and he’s not one that’s going to let the noise affect him. On the field in the one time we’ve seen him in recent months, he looked pretty shaky, but maybe he feels like this is where he ought to be.

“Either that, or he’s got a secondary plan, which I think some people have speculated on, that he’ll play this year, roll the dice and then go the graduate transfer route. To me, that’s always made more sense. I don’t know why people are convinced that he has to play two more years. Where is he going to transfer to where he can have the experience he has now?”

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Hurts could still win the starting job, but that does look more unlikely after his lackluster spring game.

There will be plenty of teams that could use a quarterback like Hurts in 2019, should he decide to eventually go that route.