2012 NFL Draft: Ryan Tannehill Is Guaranteed to Disappoint as a Top 15 Pick

When you draft someone with a top-15 pick, you should be getting a player who will make an impact immediately. Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill's stock has risen to top-15 status after acing his pro day, but he is almost surely not going to play during his rookie season.

On top of that, Tannehill is a huge risk thanks to his lack of experience and would be a complete waste of a high first-round pick.

Tannehill has a lot of the tools that teams look for in a franchise quarterback, but he only made 19 starts at the position in college and is as raw as signal-callers come. At 6'4" and 222 pounds, Tannehill has prototypical size for the position and also possesses outstanding mobility largely thanks to the two seasons he played receiver in college.

He has developing arm strength and accuracy as he's getting better at perfecting his three-quarter delivery. During his final collegiate season, Tannehill completed 61.6 percent of his passes for 3,744 yards, with 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. 

Tannehill's intangibles are said to be great, and he's certainly established himself as a hot commodity in this year's draft during individual workouts and interviews with teams.

One of the major issues to consider with Tannehill is that if Oklahoma's Landry Jones or USC's Matt Barkley had decided to enter the 2012 draft, there is almost no way the Texas A&M product would be considered a top-15 pick. He'd be a late first/early second-round guy with a lot of upside. 

I'm just not sure that Tannehill is any better than Blaine Gabbert, who was selected with the No. 10 pick in last year's draft. In his rookie season, Gabbert was a terrible disappointment. He completed just 50.8 percent of his passes for 2,214 yards, with 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His horrendous passer rating of 65.4 ranked last among the 34 quarterbacks who qualified league-wide.

In three to four years, Tannehill might develop into a solid NFL quarterback. But I have always thought that if a team has a top-15 pick, it should select a player that will make the roster better immediately. Tannehill won't do that, and he is a big-time bust risk.