Miami Dolphins: Time to End the Ryan Tannehill Experiment?
The Miami Dolphins sit at 1-4 with no real signs of improvement seemingly ahead. Should that mean it’s time to end the Ryan Tannehill project?
Fans in Miami have grown restless and tired of poor performances from their Miami Dolphins and quarterback Ryan Tannehill. So much so that during Sunday’s game, chants of “We want Moore” could be heard coursing through the crowd.
As I wrote last week, it’s unclear whether Ryan Tannehill is going to be the long-term solution for the Miami Dolphins. If it were up to the fans, the experiment would be coming to a crashing halt. During the second half of the Dolphins disastrous game against the Tennessee Titans, fans could be heard voicing their support for benching Tannehill in favor of long-time back-up quarterback Matt Moore, as stated. Do the fans have a valid point?
It’s easy to call the pleas for Moore an over-reaction from a desperate fan-base and simply dismiss them outright. No one in their right mind would argue that Moore is the more talented quarterback. Miami sank a ton of money into Tannehill. It would be crazy to bench Tannehill at this point in the season, wouldn’t it? Not if you really look at the situation.
Adam Gase, Mike Tannenbaum, and the rest of the Dolphins brass have a difficult decision to make regarding Tannehill. Is he the future of this franchise or is it time to head in a different direction? It’s a decision that needs to be made sooner rather than later. Not for the sake of this season. The ship has sailed on 2016 being a success. Rather, it’s a decision for the 2017 season—and beyond.
It should be noted that the problems with the Dolphins extend far beyond Tannehill’s performance. Dumping Tannehill now or at the end of the season isn’t going to be a panacea that suddenly puts Miami back on the winning track. The front office has a lot of work to do with the team and a lot of holes to fill on both sides of the ball.
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However, if the front office is going to decide that Tannehill isn’t the answer, that decision needs to come quickly. The sooner the better. If Tannehill is on the Dolphins roster by the fifth day of the league’s new year (next March), then his salary of nearly $15 million becomes guaranteed. Were they to decide to go in a new direction at quarterback, they would be free to either release or attempt to trade Tannehill, freeing up that money to be spent elsewhere.
That $15 million could go a long way. If spent properly, towards filling some of the many holes in the Dolphins roster. The team has no depth on the offensive line. They don’t have anything to speak of in the linebacker corps. Their cornerbacks are a joke. Taking that money and investing in the future at those positions would be a wise choice.
Making the decision to bench, and eventually cut ties with Tannehill now also frees up your draft strategy. Going forward with Matt Moore for the rest of the season is essentially throwing in the towel on 2016, all but assuring the team of yet another top-five selection in April. With that pick, the team will be free to grab one of college football’s best quarterbacks and push forward with a young, cheap option of Adam Gase’s choosing.
Trading Tannehill rather than releasing him outright could, in theory, bolster your draft strategy even further. There’s no reason to think that some team wouldn’t take a flyer on Tannehill. The kid does still have value. He has traits that make him a serviceable quarterback. The Dolphins have not done him any favors by giving him a porous offensive line and few weapons on offense. Other teams know this and will likely think Tannehill can have more success in their offense.
If the Dolphins can grab a draft pick or two for Tannehill, it’s a win for all parties involved. The Dolphins get picks that can be used to plug some of the many holes on this sinking ship. The team who trades for Tannehill gets a kid who’s still young, talented, and has promise given the right situation. And Tannehill gets, in theory, to go to a team who won’t put his health in danger by asking him to sit behind an offensive line that has allowed him to be the most-sacked quarterback since 2012.
Jan 3, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) walks off the field against the New England Patriots at Sun Life Stadium. The Dolphins won 20-10. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The question becomes who would want to trade for Tannehill? Tannehill has been a productive quarterback during his time in Miami. Despite the recent focus on his propensity for turning the ball over, he does have a TD-to-INT ratio approaching 2:1. The last two seasons in Miami, he’s been over 4,000 yards passing, He’s erased the great Dan Marino’s name from several franchise records. Whomever gets Tannehill isn’t getting a bum. They’re getting a good quarterback in a bad situation.
Really, the most obvious choice to trade for Tannehill’s services is the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland is a team that is putting pieces together and could benefit from some stability at the quarterback position. Despite taking a beating in Miami, Tannehill is rarely injured. He has yet to miss a single start in his young career. Contrast that with a Cleveland team who has gone through four quarterbacks already this season.
Cleveland has the firepower to land Tannehill and still be in a great position in the draft, too. They have a plethora of draft picks in the 2017 NFL Draft. A case can easily be made that it would be in the team’s best interest to give up one or two for a solid quarterback. That frees them up to build around an established quarterback. One who is, in all likelihood, a better option than any of the quarterbacks available in a relatively weak draft class.
If Cleveland isn’t the landing spot for Tannehill, there are a couple of other options that would make sense for the young quarterback. The San Francisco 49ers are a team that seemingly has no idea what they’re doing at the quarterback position. Tannehill coming in would instantly be a better option than Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, or the 2016 version of Colin Kaepernick. Trading for a quarterback mid-season is rare, but if I’m in the Dolphins front office, I’d at least entertain the idea of calling Chip Kelly.
Then there’s the Chicago Bears. Fans for years have been unhappy with the performance of Jay Cutler. The Bears have weapons around Cutler and yet they still flounder every year. I doubt anyone would claim that Tannehill is a more talented quarterback than Cutler. However, a change of scenery for both could be just what the doctor ordered. Cutler has a stronger arm than that of Tannehill, which would allow Miami to air the ball out more downfield, utilizing DeVante Parker.
Getting a new face in the Bears locker room could be beneficial as well. I think it’s pretty clear that what Cutler is selling, the Bears are no longer buying. Tannehill could be the shot in the arm the Bears need to once again become relevant in the NFC North, and the NFC as a whole.
No matter where Ryan Tannehill ends up, I think the writing is on the wall for the young quarterback in Miami. The fans have grown tired of losing and, if there was ever a time for change, it’s now. Benching Tannehill and moving on from him at the end of the year or making a mid-season trade now, the end is near for the Ryan Tannehill experiment. And that experiment was a resounding failure.