Tannehill finished the season ranked third among NFL quarterbacks in completion percentage at 70.3%. He wasn't just throwing swing passes either to reach that percentage. Impressively, Tannehill led the NFL this season in yards per completion at 9.6 per. The next closest was Matthew Stafford at 8.6, a whopping full yard behind the big Texan, Tannehill. Most impressively, however, was Tannehill's ability to rally the once listless offense that was held scoreless this season in Denver with Mariota under center. Tannehill mixed in some dazzling runs that he finished off seeking contact, and he even made a textbook form tackle after an interception. It's clear he won over the locker room.
From purely a fan perspective, I am somewhat uniquely qualified to write a few words about Ryan Tannehill. I've been a Dolphins fan since the mid-1980s when Dan Marino was throwing the ball all over the Orange Bowl to the one-bar face mask wearing Mark Duper and the visor sporting Mark Clayton. I also watched Marino in his later years sling it around to Irving Fryar, OJ McDuffie, Keith Jackson and Keith Byars (among many others obviously). After Marino's retirement in 1999, Dolphin fans waited for many years for a rocket armed heir apparent. When Tannehill was drafted in 2012, there was a good feeling within the fan base that we'd finally gotten our guy.
I watched almost every snap Tannehill took as a Dolphin so I could write a long-form on Tannehill's Miami years, but ultimately, it didn't work out. That said, there were plenty of bright spots. Tannehill threw for over 120 touchdowns to only 75 interceptions as a Dolphin. He also showed improvement year-over-year in areas such as deep ball accuracy. Injuries and Adam Gase are the two primary culprits that derailed Tannehill as a Dolphin. Sometimes, it's best for all parties to move on, and this was the case for Tannehill as a Dolphin.
As a Tennessee native, I was excited to see Tannehill traded to the Titans. I'm a Dolphins fan first, but I have love for the Titans. When they first came to Tennessee, I was over the moon for us to have NFL football in the Volunteer State so it was natural to adopt the Titans as my second favorite NFL franchise. If Tannehill couldn't make it work out long term in Miami, maybe he could do it in Tennessee. I'd named my fantasy football team "Big Tex Tannehill" for years, and my son wears number 17 on the pitch so I was already invested.
Kudos to Union City, TN native and Titans General Manager, Jon Robinson, for bringing in Tannehill to push Mariota. Marcus Mariota has had some really good moments as the Titans starter, but injuries and inconsistency plagued him throughout his tenure. The Titans clearly traded for Tannehill to push Marcus, but Ryan was squarely the backup as he arrived in Tennessee. The Titans didn't even have an introductory press conference for Tannehill because in their eyes, teams don't have press conferences for backup quarterbacks. Instead, they just put out a press release. This trade and press release came on the heels of Tannehill essentially being ran out of Miami so he wasn't exactly seen as a world beater, and he was on the wrong side of 30.
Instead of feeling sorry for himself for being relegated to backup duty on a new team, Tannehill relied on his faith, family and team first attitude as he held the clipboard on the sidelines. He waited on his number to be called and took full advantage once he was named the starter. As we go turn the page to a new year and decade, we can learn a lot from the quarterback:
- Don't be afraid of new beginnings.
- Don't let others doubts define you.
- Be ready when you get your chance and take full advantage of it.
- Stay humble and gracious through it all.
I ran into Tannehill in May of this year at BNA, and we had a brief conversation while he was chasing his toddler son around the airport gate area. I gave him a "Fins Up" for old times sake and wished him good luck with the Titans. I had a strong feeling he would capitalize on any opportunity with the Titans, but I don't believe anyone anticipated this type of meteoric rise. Hopefully, the Titans can pull the upset in New England this weekend and the Titans resign Tannehill. I'd love to see him leading the way in Nashville into the roaring '20s.
