Ryan Tannehill: Miami Dolphins Must Not Rush 1st-Rounder into Starting

The Miami Dolphins made a bold decision to select Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill with the No. 8 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, and they cannot afford to hurt his development by rushing him into the starting role next season.

Tannehill only played 19 games at quarterback with the Aggies after playing wide receiver for them before transitioning to quarterback. In those 19 games, he was 1-4 against Top 25 teams for the Aggies.

Tannehill doesn't have the typical QB knowledge that rookies such as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin have since those two players have been quarterbacks most of their lives.

For most of his early Aggies career, Tannehill wasn't in quarterback meetings and wasn't participating in quarterback drills. He was with the receivers doing their drills.

The best way for the Dolphins to make Tannehill's transition into the pros as smooth as possible would be having him back up the starter during his rookie season and learning the game by watching from the sideline and analyzing a lot of film.

Miami needs better play at quarterback to return to the playoffs, but rushing a high first-round pick into the starting role before he's ready would be an enormous mistake. Tannehill doesn't have the throwing accuracy needed to shine in the NFL as a rookie, and he has very few offensive weapons to utilize on offense.

Dolphins fans are becoming impatient with their team's lack of success in recent seasons, but there is no reason to jeopardize the team's future success by playing Tannehill right away and earning one or maybe two more wins than if he was sitting.

Tannehill is a competitor and will want to compete for the starting job during the preseason to win it. However, the smart course of action would be to not throw him into the fire too early, because then you risk hurting his development.

The Dolphins won't make the playoffs this year anyway, so there's no reason to rush Tannehill before he's ready to consistently start in the NFL.

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