NFL Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill Gearing Up For A Big Payday

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By @to2471

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For the first time since the great Dan Marino retired, the Miami Dolphins organization and fanbase believe they’ve finally landed their quarterback for the future. That quarterback, as you may already know, is former Texas A&M Aggie Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill came into the league as somewhat of a project (only one full season at quarterback) in a star-studded quarterback class in 2012 that featured the likes of Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson. After Luck went first and RG3 went second, Tannehill fell to the No. 8 spot, right where his former college head coach and then offensive coordinator in Miami Mike Sherman wanted him.

After struggling in his first season while trying to gain experience at the quarterback position and getting acclimated to the speed of the NFL, previous Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland went into the 2013 season with one thing in mind: Surround Tannehill with a top-tier weapon. Just months later, former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace was signed to a five-year, $60 million deal.

In his sophomore season, Tannehill continued to improve. His completion percentage went up from 58.3 to 60.4, he threw for over 600 more yards and he doubled the amount of touchdowns thrown from 12 to 24. Improvement was great to see, but he played behind one of the worst offensive lines in NFL history which resulted in 58 sacks. While most of the blame has to fall on the big hogs up front, Sherman was also being blamed for his play-calling.

Sherman was gone for 2014 and Bill Lazor, formerly the quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, was hired to run a much more up-tempo offense that would better suit Tannehill. Wallace was in his second season working with the third-year quarterback and Branden Albert was given a lucrative contract in free agency to protect Tannehill’s blind side. All was looking positive and the arrow was pointing straight towards the playoffs for a young up-and-coming Dolphins organization.

Long story short, the 2014 Dolphins missed the playoffs after tanking towards the end of the season and ultimately finishing 8-8 for the second consecutive year. However, blame does not go on Tannehill as many are quick to do. Much like the year before, Tannehill improved immensely, throwing for 27 touchdowns, five less interceptions (17 in 2013) and was the first since Marino to throw for over 4,000 yards.

Now the Dolphins organization, led by general manager Dennis Hickey and head coach Joe Philbin, is forced to reorganize the roster to free up cap space. Players signed under the Ireland regime are expected to be on the chopping block, and Tannehill is expected to be a large benefactor of the money freeing up.

There are two different routes that Miami can take. Either the organization can pick up his fifth-year option on his rookie contract which would tie up $15 million in cap space or they could work out a long-term extension and lock him up now. If they choose to take the latter route, you’d have to expect that he’d get a larger contract than what Andy Dalton received last season, which is for $115 million over a six-year span. Like Dalton’s contract, you could expect there to a lot of money up front with a number of option clauses located in the back-end of the contract.

It’s time for Miami to pay up. Fans are finally excited about what they’re getting from the quarterback position for the first time in over a decade.

Tyler Olson is an NFL and Miami Dolphins writer for www.RantSports.com.  Follow him on Twitter @to2471, like him on Facebook, and connect with him on Google.

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