Ryan Tannehill is the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. Tannehill grew up and began his football career in Big Spring, Texas, playing for Big Spring High. He stayed close to home for his college career, enrolling at Texas A&M University. He began his collegiate career as a wide receiver, but his 4.7 40-yard dash time and nine-inch hand size made him more suitable for the quarterback room. Securing the starting quarterback job at A&M, he showed strong potential as a signal-caller and never looked back. In 20 games under center spanning two seasons, Tannehill threw for 5,357 yards and 42 touchdowns compared to 21 interceptions. He showed enough as a quarterback for the Miami Dolphins to take him No. 7 overall in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Ryan Tannehill was handed the keys to the car in Miami, but never cemented his case to become the face of the franchise. He had only two seasons with a touchdown-to-interception ratio above two. The Dolphins made the playoffs just once (in 2016) with Tannehill at the helm, but he was unable to play in that game. Miami eventually came to the conclusion they’d seen enough after the 2018 season, and came to an agreement with the Tennessee Titans to trade Tannehill and a sixth-round pick for a fourth-round pick.
Tannehill entered 2019 as the backup to the incumbent Marcus Mariota in his first season in Tennessee. Midway through the 2019 season, the Titans were no longer satisfied with Mariota’s performance and turned to the 6-4 221-pound Tannehill. He then seized the starting job for good. In 10 starts, he lit up defenses to the tune of 2,598 yards, 22 touchdowns and five interceptions. This was all while completing 69.6-percent of his passes and averaging 10.2 yards per attempt. The Titans salvaged their season to earn a playoff birth and made it to the 2019 AFC Championship game under Tannehill’s watch, but lost to the Chiefs. Tannehill won Comeback Player of the Year that season and also earned his first Pro Bowl appearance.
The Titans have been a forced to be reckoned with in the AFC with Tannehill under center. He put up gaudy numbers his first two seasons in Tennessee, enough to finish in the top 11 in fantasy points per game both those seasons. In the 2021 season, however, he was not so prolific. Tennessee was ravaged by injuries to Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown, Julio Jones, as well as their offensive line. Tannehill bore the brunt of those blows, yet still finished that season ranked No. 8 among quarterbacks in total QBR. He finished 24th among quarterbacks in deep ball attempts (44), 18th in air yards (3,920), and 25th in true passer rating (72.2). Tannehill ended the season as QB16 on a per-game basis, below his ADP as the QB11 heading into the 2021 season. The Titans managed to enter the 2021 postseason as the No. 1 seed in the AFC, but promptly fell to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round. Even so, the Titans have been one of the more consistent NFL franchises since naming Tannehill their starter. Expect more of the same while he's under center.
