Dynasty Target: Over The Tannehill

With the large amount of rookie quarterback success in 2012, with names like Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, there are several young players in Miami that should not be overlooked, one of them is 2^nd year quarterback Ryan Tannehill. I will admit that I didn’t know much about Ryan Tannehill until I watched an episode of “Hard Knocks” starting the Dolphins in mini-camp. Not sure if I’m more embarrassed about not knowing much about him at that point or that I was actually watching the HBO series. Anyway the show basically portrayed Tannehill as a talented but arrogant 1^st round draft pick, who was fighting veteran David Garrard and Matt Moore for a job that was basically his. There was speculation after the draft that he might not even play due to a hold out on his contract…wait, a holdout for a rookie? Yes it was true and probably where he gets the arrogant and cocky label from, well that and a hot girlfriend. Don’t believe me? Google it…  Well now that I have distracted all the readers and are probably no longer reading we are going to take a look Tannehill’s 2012 season and how it compared to some of the other rookies with the hope that we can apply it to his 2013 and future potential as what we all hope will be the next Dolphin’s franchise quarterback.

So what’s so impressive? When looking at the numbers Ryan Tannehill, as compared to other quarterbacks seems to be the epitome of mediocre, I mean even Brandon Weeden finished with more touchdowns. Although his numbers might not jump out I think based on the circumstances of last year his potential was limited, by a number of things; personnel, coaching, and lack of experience.  The Dolphins did not have a strong set of receivers and to add to it a tight end that was extremely unimpressive, when Brian “Flatline” leads the team in receptions you have a serious problem. The Dolphins addressed this in the off-season by signing former Steelers receiver Mike Wallace, former Rams receiver Brandon Gibson and former Jet Dustin Keller. With these additions I think that it gives the Dolphins the deep threat they were missing in Wallace, the athletic possession tight end in Keller and a very versatile and solid route running Brandon Gibson. The second thing to take note of is what seemed to be an extremely conservative play calling approach by Miami’s coaching staff. It could have to do with the lack of personnel or it being a new system but hopefully they expand the playbook and become more aggressive in 2013. The last important thing to look at is Tannehill’s lack of experience, before the NFL, at Texas A&M he only played two years as a starting quarterback attempting less than 800 passes. Compare that to Andrew Luck’s 1100 and you can see there is definitely a gap and a potentially bigger learning curve for Tannehill in the NFL. He has shown the ability to make all the throws and with these off season acquisitions and time to progress in the off season I feel the Dolphins are gearing up for what could be a very dangerous passing attack in 2013. It might just be the perfect storm and if Coach Philbin decides to let his 2^nd year quarterback run the show he could be in for a breakout season which could continue on to be a very successful NFL career. Again be reminded that this is all speculation but signs point to him progressing significantly rather than regressing. In dynasty formats I would be thrilled to have him as my QB2 or QB3 but would be hesitant to give him the QB1 designation at this time in most formats.