Ryan Tannehill: Projecting Draft Darling's NFL Future

Ryan Tannehill is one of those players who will end up being either a huge franchise success or a bust.

There won’t be any middle ground after all the talk of which team needs Tannehill or which team he needs in order to become a better quarterback.

I think he’ll be a success if he plays for the Miami Dolphins.

Tannehill has limited experience as a starting quarterback. He made only 19 starts at quarterback for Texas A&M. That really is not enough to make a solid prediction on a player’s future, especially when you might draft him in the Top 8.

I doubt that Tannehill will have an instant impact on the team. He may have all of the qualities to be a successful pro quarterback, but he needs time to develop.

Improving his skill set will take less time with the Dolphins because of Mike Sherman. The new Dolphins offensive coordinator was Tannehill’s coach at Texas A&M. Sherman already knows Tannehill. He knows how to bring out the best of him better than any other NFL coach.

With the Dolphins, Tannehill would be rushed into a starting role. I don’t really see that as a problem for him. He certainly has the mentality for it. He doesn’t seem to be too bothered about the uncertain situation he is in.

He is not a certain Dolphins pick yet, however. There’s news about him every day, just like there are new critics of him, but he doesn’t allow that to get under his skin. He is only focused on doing his best wherever he ends up.

Tannehill has shown he is a competitor and just wants to be on the field. That’s why he accepted the wide receiver role for two-and-a-half years in college. He was the fifth all-time leading receiver for the Aggies before switching to quarterback. He caught 55 passes for 844 yards when he first played wide receiver in his redshirt freshman season.

This will be beneficial to him because he has grasped two important positions in a pro-style offense.

Who else has done that in college?

Tannehill is an excellent athlete. He can throw on the move, which is another skill not all quarterbacks possess. He can also quickly analyze a situation while running, and he can change routes quickly if he sees a problem in the defense.

He is also very capable of making anticipation throws.

Tannehill does have one glaring issue, however. He tends to hold on to the ball for longer than he should. But that can be corrected through more experience, which he will inevitably have under Sherman.