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Ryan Tannehill - Not what you think Fins' fans

  • For those of you that don't know me, I'm Nole by birth in a Nole family, and a Floridian. I have, however, spend the last 25 years in Texas and went to Texas A&M and have heavy roots here now. I'm more than familar with TAMU and FSU... an extremely rare breed.

    For what it's worth - I've been to just about every Ryan Tannehill home game (@ Kyle Field, TAMU) for his career.. and the last 25 years at that.. having season tickets every year since 1987.)... and of course watched the rest on TV/Video. So I've seen a LOT of Ryan Tannehill.

    Also, let me admit first, I am a FSU homer and a TAMU homer both... so I'm biased as much as anyone else. FSU is in my blood and family history, TAMU is in my latter years and my Alma Mater. Yes, it's easy having "2 loves" when they hardly play and are basically in 2 different circles...

    This leads me to Ryan Tannehill.

    Before I "explain", I need to debunk some basic sillyness I read everywhere -

    1. I would NOT consider Tannehill a high first round pick, but a late first isn't a stretch due to his upside (see below).
    2. Recognize the QB position is different than most, and QB's ALWAYS go higher than they might otherwise go.
    3. Anyone that thinks Ponder deserved that first round and Tannehill doesn't, is punch drunk stupid full of fandom.

    To those that say stupid things like - "Tannehill couldn't even beat out Jerrod Johnson before him". Wrong. Jerrod Johnson was highly touted and higher classed (age-year) than Tannehill, and had a lot of time spent on him before Coach Mike Sherman even got hired by TAMU. Tannehill is/WAS a very talented receiver in addition to his QB skills and was used as such. Did you know that Tannehill was actually behind BOTH Stephen McGee (Dallas Cowboys) and Jerrod Johnson? And yes, Tannehill did beat out Johnson - Sherman benched Johnson (and all that investement) in his senior year for the younger and totally unproven Tannehill. We also need to remember that Stephen McGee was _very_ good at TAMU, touted early as a Heisman candidate and is currently loved by the Cowboys whom drafted him. Tannehill was later pre-season heisman touted after only one full year of football at QB. It's not like he came out of nowhere on the radar.... people noticed him fast.

    Tannehill was on a major fasttrack to be Texas A&M's leading receiver "of all time" (we're talking over a 100 years of football here) before he was moved to QB... and despite not even playing QB the last 2 years, he STILL ended up on the top-5 charts of all time.... trust me when I say it was a no-brainer than he would have ended up #1... for whatever that's worth. You might think this a small stat, but you have to look at this guy's overall athletic talent and what he did during those years he wasn't a QB.. he was the team's #1 receiver (by a mile), not just some guy sitting on the bench holding a clipboard.

    Ponder has/had no deep ball and couldn't stay healthy ever... yet people touted him so much "for his brains". Great.... but did you realize Tannehill has a massive deep ball, stays healthy, AND he graduated early in BIOLOGY and is on track to be an Orthopedic Surgeon after his career? That's not a "General Music" degree... and Texas A&M is an AAU school to boot.

    Now, to the "real" meat of the matter - how good is he REALLY?

    a. Tannehill is a good scrambler and is a pocket thread due to his experience as a wide receiver. He's quick.
    b. Tannehill has a great deep ball, quick release, excellent arm strength
    c. Tannehill is more accurate than most graduating college - dude's VERY accurate. Very.
    d. Tannehill had an "average" line most of his career, and good tailbacks, but he had poor receivers that dropped an unbelieveable amount of balls. TAMU's defense the last 10 years has also been bad to horrible in ranking, which has done his offense no favors causing him to have to "push it" more than many other QB's. Let's not predend he's been on "great teams".

    Things I think are "bad" about Tannehill if being honest?

    a. He was horrible in his final home game, against Texas in their hyped final meeting. Blew the game all on his own. Sherman obviously got fired for it, and deserved blame too... but together those 2 guys had their heads up their collective arses that day. It's just the truth.

    b. Defensive reads - Iffy on this.

    c. He has to improve his anticipation and "natural head clock" on getting rid of the ball or leaving the pocket. He's average on this. To his defense, he was a college QB just a couple of years and did improve rapidly in that time.

    BOTTOM LINE -

    Honestly - Is he a worthy of the #8 pick?

    Debatable. You have to take into account the team that drafted him's needs (Miami), and that the "top" QB's always go higher than "the other QB's"... as many franchises live and die on that position alone. Could the Dolphins traded down a few spots, and still got him? Maybe, nobody knows if Miami felt threatened on losing him to another team... and by how much. Look at what Cleveland did by trading up one spot just to make sure they didn't lose their first pick choice.

    Can he start tomorrow? Not a good idea, he needs learning time. He has tremendous upside.. tremendous..... but with only a few years of real experience playing QB behind him, he really could benefit to development time. It's no secret that his college coach his is NFL coach, which benefits him... and of course helped him get drafted where he did.

    And let's not forget... while he may or not be a NFL quality receiver (also debatable), he was one heck of one in College. He was ice.

    - Russ

    This post has been edited 4 times, most recently by satexas on 4/27/2012 at 2:40 AM

    satexas

  • I love the pick for Miami. I'm a huge fan of his and I think his upside is incredible. Plus, as you said, he is a very good WR. At 6'4 221 and 4.58 speed, he has the size and speed to compete in the NFL at the WR position if QB doesn't work out for him. High value pick, in my opinion.

    This post was edited by fsukum on 4/27/2012 at 2:52 AM

    fsukum

  • I'm going to pistol whip the next guy that says "upside."

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    equanole

  • I'm a dolphins fan and I was a little skeptical. Obviously I'll pull like hell for the guy now. They better do something about right tackle today.

    BLEdGrntPoopGld

  • I'm pumped about it as a Fins fan. #8 worthy? Probably not to anyone but the Dolphins IMO. Most anywhere else he would expect to start. With the Fins you have Moore for at least another year and can let Tanne sit. Most people point to his being a WR first as a bad thing and that he only had a year and a half to play QB. I think it could be a good thing, the kid ended up being a #8 guy with a ton to still learn. Do I think hes the next brady, rodgers, manning? I don't know but it's nice to have some hope as a Fins fan for once.

    Now go get Fleener in the second round so I can do a backflip off my desk.

    fsujustinoles

  • Fin fan here. I only watched a few TAMU games with Ryan at QB. Nothing memorable except that my general impression was that he was a choker. Throwing picks, not moving the chains, and missing receivers when the game was on the line. I don't know if that is accurate or not, just my impression of him prior to the draft.

    sae, if you were a Dolphin fan how would you feel about the Sherman hire? Again, I know very little about him. Seems that Sherman is hitching his wagon to Tannehill so there is some confidence inspiring angle there. What do you think about Sherman?

    Philbin is an offense guy so I'm hoping he knows what to do to get some playmakers around his 1st round QB. They are all pretty average. I'm hoping that they get a WR with their next pick. Alshon Jeffrey would be ok. I'm glad they sent the cancerous ass Marshall to Chicago. The last thing Tannehill needs is another butter finger WR.

    Jadaway

  • TAMU's defense is the one who choked. Go look at TAMU's schedule an observe the quarter by quarter break down of each game.

    fsukum

  • Big position of need is the only reason I am comfortable with him taken at #8.

    Trading down would have been too much risk in that another team could have grabbed him and the next best QB on the board is 28 years old.

    bwhnoles

  • equanole said...

    I'm going to pistol whip the next guy that says "upside."

    UPSIDE

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    blounted1

  • blounted1 said...

    UPSIDE

    Ooohhhhh.....(holds out gun)

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    equanole

  • equanole said...

    I'm going to pistol whip the next guy that says "upside."

    "Hey Dowlar, whats the name of that thing you can do at Burger King, where you make your fries and zima one size larger for only a quarter?"

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    WillyDees

  • I do like the guy (admittedly, I hadn't until a couple of weeks ago), I just wish we could have gotten him a little later and picked up a couple more picks. Thanks for your analysis though, this is nice.

    EnterTheOcho

  • equanole said...

    Ooohhhhh.....(holds out gun)

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    Armynole03

  • Jadaway said...

    sae, if you were a Dolphin fan how would you feel about the Sherman hire? Again, I know very little about him. Seems that Sherman is hitching his wagon to Tannehill so there is some confidence inspiring angle there. What do you think about Sherman?

    Philbin is an offense guy so I'm hoping he knows what to do to get some playmakers around his 1st round QB. They are all pretty average. I'm hoping that they get a WR with their next pick. Alshon Jeffrey would be ok. I'm glad they sent the cancerous ass Marshall to Chicago. The last thing Tannehill needs is another butter finger WR.

    On Sherman....

    Sherman is a good, solid coach, but he's a guy I would call "second teir" within college football, with little or no chance of "moving up" to that "1st teir" that I would put Saban and some other coaches in. Why? Two reasons really..... he didn't adapt well to the college came from the pro's, and I just don't think he's that amazing as a head coach. Too laid back.

    For the record, while I didn't expect amazing things from him at TAMU, he was fired at least 1 year too early, bonehead move by the President and something the AD (Byrne) who's been EXTREMELY successful in hiring coaches and spotting talent fought... that cost him (Byrne) his job too... Byrne is leaving TAMU now. Why is Byrne considered successful? He's turned just about every sport around in the school except Football, and even that heavily improved.... TAMU isn't just winning in other sports now, but are winning titles (6 track titles, 1 women's basketball title) and are more relevant in others such as Baseball and Basketball than they've been in decades.

    So yeah, Sherman was let go early in knee-jerk politics - and I have little to no faith in their Admin at the moment.... boosters and money are too much infulence IMHO. School apparently wants that new stadium BAD.

    ... as for the Dolphins... I think Sherman is perfect as a position coach (OC) and even great as an asst. head coach.... and no doubt he was behind the Tannehill selection. I think them being together is an asset to both.

    satexas

  • It would be really nice to have a decent QB and a stable coaching staff again. I grew up on Shula/Marino football and it was great. Being a Dolphin/Seminole fan from the mid 80's through 2000 was fun times. It would be nice if they both get back on track again.

    Jadaway

  • Sorry, the guy went 28 and 15 TD's to Int's.
    He threw 3 Int's vs Baylor which may have had the worst defense I saw last year.
    JMO, overrated and at best will be a serviceable starter in the NFL.
    One of the few times I've ever agreed with Skip Bayless.
    Again, I'm no QB expert but I don't consider Tannehill either elite or a dominant QB out of College.

    Crappy Davenpot

  • Crappy Davenpot said...

    Sorry, the guy went 28 and 15 TD's to Int's. He threw 3 Int's vs Baylor which may have had the worst defense I saw last year. JMO, overrated and at best will be a serviceable starter in the NFL. One of the few times I've ever agreed with Skip Bayless. Again, I'm no QB expert but I don't consider Tannehill either elite or a dominant QB out of College.

    He didn't have a chnace to become dominant. He started for one season.

    fsukum

  • fsukum said...

    He didn't have a chnace to become dominant. He started for one season.

    Meh, unimpressed and the Miami track record on QB's since Marino retired stinks.

    Crappy Davenpot