The Dolphins playoff dreams are hanging by a thread, and the reality is that they will most likely spend another post season watching the playoffs from their homes. Even though this season was supposed to be a playoffs or bust season, I believe the team has improved from last year and is taking the right steps in the right direction. One of the biggest decisions the Dolphins will have to make this off-season will be, what they want to do in regards to Ryan Tannehill. He is signed through 2015, so financially he is still a cheap option, but is he talent wise the best option?
Tannehill struggled in his first 3 games of the season, however since then he has dramatically improved and has posted above a 100 QB rating in 5 of the last 10 games, and one QB rating below 100 was 98.9. He has thrown for 3,044 yards (14th best), 21 touchdowns (13th best), 9 interceptions, a 66.7 completion percentage (6th best), an overall QB rating of 92.6 (14th best), and has run for 295 yards with a 6.3 yards per carry average and 1 rushing touchdown. Just based on his numbers, he has improved since his first and second season and has consistently been more reliable. I would even go a step further and say that if the offensive line was healthier and did a better job pass protecting then he would be doing even better this season. He has been sacked 34 times this season which is 6th worst in the NFL. The biggest thing he needs to improve on now is being better in the fourth quarter. However this is not entirely on him, he needs help from his receivers and his running game, and his defense as well.
I believe that Tannehill has proved enough this season to warrant a 4th year as the Dolphins starting QB. He also has had to learn a entirely new offense this season, which he actually excelled in compared to Mike Sherman’s offense that he was running. However what I would do is draft a QB in the 3rd or 4th round, just to get some young competition in there. Ron Wolf the old GM of the Packers, had a mantra that a team should always draft a QB each year, and it is a smart idea. Most football gambling fans would say that the odds of finding a franchise QB increase when you actually draft Qbs, because its hard to get a franchise QB when you don’t even bother drafting a QB. Look at New England, they have drafted Mallet and Garoppolo even though they have a Hall of Fame QB playing on their team.
Tannehill has 3 more games to play this season, but as long as he does not regress to the point of playing like Geno Smith, then he should be given another chance in Miami next season. If Miami does not make the playoffs this season, which is a high probability, Tannehill is not the reason why. The defense has forgotten how to stop the run, and the team is still missing a few key players at other positions. What does the rest of the phins fans think about giving Tannehill another season as the Dolphins QB.