Fantasy Football Week 9 Start or Sit: Ryan Tannehill

By Kelly Anderson on October 31, 2014

If you are starting Ryan Tannehill for your fantasy quarterback then chances are pretty high that your team is struggling or the quarterback position doesn’t hold that much weight in terms of scoring in your league. While he has had some good weeks statistically speaking in a few of the Miami Dolphins‘ wins this season, his good is still around average for any decent to elite quarterback in the NFL. On paper his numbers don’t look too bad with a 62 percent completion percentage, 1,600 yards, 11 touchdowns and only six interceptions, but those are some pretty pedestrian numbers considering the fact they have already played seven games this season.

With that said, I do think that he has a fairly favorable matchup this week against the San Diego Chargers. If you only look at the fact that they are ranked sixth in the league against the pass this season, giving up only 219 yards per game, then you will be fooled into thinking Tannehill is in for a long day Sunday. But if you look at how they have played in recent weeks then you will notice that the Chargers have given up 221 yards and a touchdown to Alex Smith, 286 yards and three touchdowns to Peyton Manning and 282 yards and four touchdowns to Derek Carr. Yes, that last stat was right, four touchdowns to Derek Carr.

Now I want to reiterate the fact that even when Tannehill performs well it’s just going to be an average game at best. Even in their big wins against the Oakland Raiders and Chicago Bears he only threw for around 280 yards and four total touchdowns. And in recent weeks he has thrown as many interceptions as he has touchdowns, so keep that in mind as that will affect his final fantasy output. The one thing he does have going for him is the fact that he can pick up 30-40 yards on the ground with his legs, so that could offset whatever turnovers he has in the game. And that’s the reason why I believe he would make a decent bye week replacement for your team. Go ahead and start Tannehill this week.

Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.