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When the Miami Dolphins signed quarterback Ryan Tannehill to a four-year $77 million contract extension a few weeks ago, it was a convincing sign that the team is all-in on the young signal caller. Tannehill has improved in each of his first three years and he is expected to have an enormous fourth season. That crazy money put the former Texas A&M star in the top ten as far as highest paid NFL quarterbacks. However, Tannehill hasn’t yet proved that he is in the top 10 in terms of performance.
The only QBs ahead of Tannehill on the wage scale in terms of guaranteed money are Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers and Sam Bradford. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is tied with Tannehill. Out of that group, the only pair that is definitely better than Tannehill is Romo and Rodgers. Cutler has had his moments, but his recent struggles have dropped him behind Tannehill. Smith has never lived up to the stature of being the No. 1 draft pick in 2005. Bradford was also a No. 1 overall pick, but has been a disaster due to injuries. Kaepernick was hot for a hot minute, but seems to have deteriorated. Newton was the latest young quarterback to cash in with a restructured contract, but he has been erratic. The one area where Newton excels is in the rushing game, but Tannehill even eclipsed the 300-yard rushing plateau in 2015.
Two veteran quarterbacks who never seem to put their money ahead of the team are Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Now that the dynamic duo is in the twilight of their careers, the much younger Tannehill was able to zoom past them in earnings. There is no argument that Manning and Brady still do better than Tannehill in the huddle. Ben Roethlisberger is the highest paid quarterback in total contract; armed with a couple of championship rings and close to 40,000 yards passing, Big Ben is ahead of Tannehill. Also undoubtedly in front of the Dolphin (in no particular order) is Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford and Philip Rivers. If we nudge Newton ahead of Tannehill then that places Miami’s man at No. 12 in the rankings so far.
The Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII behind the brilliant quarterbacking of Joe Flacco. Flacco has the one major attribute that Tannehill does not, and that is a rifle for a right arm. Great performances in the playoffs push Flacco slightly past Tannehill on the list. Another old hand from the AFC North is Cincinnati Bengals‘ Andy Dalton. Although the Bengals continuously make the postseason, they also lose in the first round like clockwork. One of the reasons why Cincinnati always comes up empty is less-than-stellar performances from Dalton. The only thing Big Red has in common with Tannehill is that they are both from the state of Texas. In this argument, the Aggie is ahead of the TCU Horned Frog.
One last duet that needs to make this discussion are quarterbacks who were picked in the same draft as Tannehill. Nobody with a sound mind will rank Tannehill ahead of Indianapolis Colts’ QB Andrew Luck. Luck is the next coming of Peyton Manning all the way down to the horseshoe on his helmet. Luck is in the top five overall right now. When he finally “gets paid” he will exceed the contracts of every other quarterback in this discussion. The other 2012 draftee who has not been discussed (or nicknamed RGIII) is the Seattle Seahawks‘ Russell Wilson. We know Wilson won the Super Bowl in his second season as a starter and made it back to the big game again last year. Without the help of a dominating defense and a beast of a running back in Marshawn Lynch, it is doubtful Wilson could have carried the ‘Hawks that far. Tannehill was slightly better statistically than Wilson in 2014 with less of a surrounding group. Championship or not, Tannehill is better than Wilson.
Using the above logic, Tannehill settles in as the 14th best quarterback in the NFL. Of course, this is a very unscientific listing so some may beg to differ. One point upon which I will insist however, is that Tannehill needs to continue to improve if the dough the Dolphins are paying him turns out to be money well spent.
