AP

Trent Dilfer, a former first-round draft pick and Super Bowl-winning quarterback, has worked with Tua Tagovailoa in secret.

The two began working in mid-January — before doctors had cleared the Alabama quarterback to return to football activities — at the high school where Dilfer coaches. Dilfer brought in Ken Whisenhunt for film and whiteboard work.

Dilfer is the latest to declare Tagovailoa fully healthy.

But Dilfer, who retired after the 2007 season, raised eyebrows with a quote that appeared in the Washington Post last night: “If [Tagovailoa] would have never gotten hurt there would have been no discussion about who the best player in the draft is. He throws the football better than anyone throws the football. He throws better than Aaron Rodgers and Dan Marino. Whoever gets him wins the draft because you are getting a Hall of Fame player.”

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald asked Dilfer to explain himself Friday, tweeting to the former quarterback, “Please explain your comment about Tua throwing better than Marino and Rodgers because that’s a credibility killer for me.”

Dilfer responded on social media, clarifying, “Two comments to Les [Carpenter] got combined into one. I said he throws it ‘as well as AR and DM’ I never said better (that would be crazy talk). I said he throws it BETTER than AR did at THIS STAGE of their development.”

Dilfer, though, stands by his assertion that Tagovailoa is the best quarterback in the draft.

“There are some really, really good quarterbacks in this draft, but the best one is Tua,” Dilfer said in the Post.

Cincinnati is expected to draft LSU quarterback Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall choice. Tagovailoa will follow after that, possibly as the second quarterback selected.