2012 NFL Mock Draft : Why QB Ryan Tannehill Going To The Cleveland Browns At #4 Is A Bad Move.
CLEVELAND, OH – As if the Cleveland Browns still have to deal with being labeled as the “jilted lover” by the national media in the wake of the Washington Redskins blockbuster pre-draft day trade with the St Louis Rams for the right to essentially select Heisman Trophy quarterback Robert Griffin III.
With Griffin III gone, going after former Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Ryan Tannehill with their first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft–fourth overall–will make the Browns look more a desperate housewife instead.
Chad Reuter of NFL.com has the Browns pulling off the biggest reach in the entire 2012 NFL Draft in selected the former wide receiver—turned—quarterback fourth overall.
The 6’4, 221-pound Tannehill had been projected as the third best quarterback prospect after Stanford’s Andrew Luck and the fore-mentioned Griffin III since USC’s Matt Barkley elected to stay for his senior year.
Tannehill has been graded as a late first-round to a top of the third prospect by various since his Aggies defeated the Northwestern Wildcats, 33-22 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston.
This is not a slight towards Tannehill as he would pass for 3,744 yards, 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, while completing 61.6 percent of his passes, but he is not worthy of being a top-five pick in April due to his body of work—or lack there off—in his case.
Prior to 2010, Tannehill was a wide receiver for the Aggies before being switched to quarterback. While Tannehill would grow into his new position by passing for 1,638 yards and 13 touchdowns, no player who has played a total of 20 games at football’s most vital position is worthy of being selected in the top five, let alone be a team’s franchise quarterback.
Some may argue that because Tannehill played in the West Coast offense under Mike Sherman—which is similar to new Browns offensive coordinator Brad Childress’—down in College Station, that he would be able to make the transition to a quarterback-needy team such as Cleveland.
While Sherman may compare his former pupil to Super Bowl quarterbacks in Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, Tannehill appears to be more of a poor man’s version of Christian Ponder instead.
Cleveland has–with the exception of Greg Little and Jordan Norwood—next no talent to surround Tannehill with, and would be a terrible decision by the Browns front office, if they even consider taking him fourth overall.
Many Browns fans—including myself—would have no problem in seeing Tannehill be selected at #22 or lower, if Tannehill is indeed the Browns pick at fourth in the first round, the selection of Tannehill will go down as one of the biggest—and most asinine—draft-day reach blunders since Cleveland took linebacker Mike Junkin out of Duke in 1987.
Junkin, would play a total of seven games for the Browns and Chiefs before going on to become one of the biggest busts in NFL history.
While Junkin and Tannehill do play different positions, the fact that Tannehill has played a dozen and half games at quarterback should raise a huge red flag amongst Dawg Pounders everywhere.
Tannehill may have glimpses of athleticism and upside—while this cannot be denied—but the Browns would be wise to resist the impulsive urge to reach for Tannehill and consider him in the second to third round instead.
Follow me on Twitter, @RobertCobb_76
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Robb: Right again, Browns need a second real WR to pair with Greg Little, and at #4 it is Justin Blackmon. Plus Rams want him with the lower Wash pick.
See Blackmon’s YouTube on Sports Science – Blackmon, he looks great, jumps higher than Plaxico. A real #1 WR Browns need more than a QB ar #4 overall. –Bud
If the browns take Tanehill in the 1st round period I’m done with the Browns. !st round is for 1st round talent only and we are in the 4th spot get an elite player! I don’t think Blackmon is the answer either because we need big plays down the field. I would get Morris Claiborne with the 4th or trade back and get the real top WR in the draft which is Micheal Floyd who has been doing it since he was a freshman with bad QB’s,or just take Claiborne trade back into the top 15 with our 22nd and 3rd rd pick to get Trent Ricahrson before the Bengals get him and he would be kicking our butts for the next 10 + years.
Blackmon only runs slants and post we need quick touchdowns we need Micheal floyd,Stephen hill,Touchdown Tommy Streeter(Biggest sleeper) or Marvin Jones no more quick slants please it was painful to watch all last year! Get Claiborne or trade with Jags so they can have quick slant Blackmon and we get the real top WR PLEASE!!!!
Take Blackmon at #4 and Tannehill at No. 22…have an Andy Dalton/AJ Green situation. Tannehill may have only played 20 games, but that wasn’t due to lack of skill, just lack of opportunity. He is smart and accurate, much like Dalton, but sometimes he can stare down his receivers which is something that will have to be fixed.