The book on Ryan Tannehill is:
We drafted a QB who had red flags in college. He was a one year starter, and had poor scoring for the volume, borderline completion percentage, and wuestionable decision making, throwing a little too many picks for the volume. He also was not a winner per se, having 7-6 record in his last season.
However he landed at a really good team, with good staff, unlike some better college prospects over the years, like Mark Sanchez for example who landed at absolute garbage franchise.
Philbin was looking for a high volume passer who he could train, so he had to be if training age as well, because Philbin ran high volume passing offense. And Tannehill was that QB having thrown for unusually high 530 attempts in college. He could carry the passing load.
In addition he landed with people who cared. He landed with his former college head coach Mike Sherman as his OC who took care to introduce him to NFL.
The Dolphins also lucked out that Tannehill was a hard worker and a quick learner which is important for the success.
A newly drafted franchise QB will get four years, the rookie deal, to prove he is worthy of the second contract, that he can lead the team to playoffs and win, that he is that phenom, and the team can extend him to make more SB runs.
Ryan Tannehill made significant improvements under Philbin each year in his first three years, to the point that he was one of the better performers in the league in 2014.
In just his second season he was on the brink of leading the team to the playoffs. But came just short of that goal and benchmark in late December games.
In his third and best season, he once again lead the team to the brink of playoffs only to come up short again in December.
After Tannehill’s second year, the head coach who drafted him and trained him, had serious concerns about Ryan’s success potential, about his “greatness.” Philbin wanted to draft Derek Carr that offseason, another high volume passer to fit the offense.
Instead, the organization acquired a low passer but a winning QB from NDSU, Brock Jensen who was obviously not a fit.
Stadium renovations were going on and the brass did not want to have quarterback controversy during the unveiling of the new venue. Philbin was the political enemy after 2014 season for wanting to switch QBs.
After a poor start to 2015 season Philbin was fired. The team kept the QB but fired the HC who got and trained the QB. We did this once before.
Ryan Tannehill did not perform as well in 2015 as he did in 2014, he suffered a pull back in production, which is not unusual for similar QBs.
Blake Bortles and Derek Carr experienced similar pull backs and fired head coach, after a three year steady improvement.
Ryan Tannehill received an extension 2015. The extension was team-friendly because he did not accomplish what he set out to accomplish and what the expectations were for the rookie deal, which was to show that he is the phenom. But he showed significant improvements, committment, and hard work. The extension was just good enough to get the team through the stadium renovations and onto the next phase.
Under the new head coach in 2016, Ryan Tannehill started the season slow, again. And then, game 13 he suffered a season ending injury. During that season Ryan led the team to 8-5 record. His passing load was significantly reduced compared to 2014 season, and the team relied more on the running game than it did in previous years. That season, the Dolphins had one of the best rushing attacks in the league, and the lead running back was a pro bowl selection.
The Dolphins were encouraged by this new dynamic and were looking forward to having Tannehill back for the 2017 season. However, he suffered season-ending knee reinjury in preseason.
During the 2018 offseason, the team restructured Ryan Tannehill’s contract to create cap space for roster additions.
The book on Ryan Tannehill was written in 2015. A head coach was fired, and Ryan was not a phenom.
We lucked out that Stephen Ross hired a coach who can draft and train quarterbacks and that Ryan worked hard and became a decent starter. We did not luck out in finding a phenom.