NFL draft preview: Tannehill an intriguing quarterback
How does a player who wasn’t his team’s full-time quarterback until his senior season wind up being projected as a top-10 pick in the NFL draft?
In Ryan Tannehill’s case, it helps to be 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, run a 4.62 40-yard dash and be athletic enough to have been Texas A&M’s leading wide receiver while waiting his turn to play quarterback.
Amid all the hype and hoopla over Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III, who will be the first two players picked on April 26, Tannehill and every other quarterback in this year’s draft have been somewhat overlooked.
But Tannehill is no secret to NFL talent evaluators, which is why mock drafts have him coming off the board as high as No. 4 overall to the Cleveland Browns.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper has him going No. 8 to the Miami Dolphins.
“Tannehill isn’t a guy I’d endorse as an immediate starter,” Kiper said. “(But) his ceiling is so high, you can take him here with a plan in place because of his rate of growth. His already sound mechanics and skill set imply a bright future. The talent isn’t in question.”
In a league that has never been more pass-oriented, NFL teams are desperate for a franchise quarterback, a necessity in today’s game. But desperation isn’t the only reason for Tannehill’s popularity, which seems to have increased even after he suffered a broken foot during a January workout in Florida — just days before his wedding. He recovered well enough to run that 4.62 40 at his pro day on March 29 but not soon enough to avoid needing help down the aisle.
“I actually left two days after I broke my foot to get married in Mexico,” Tannehill said. “It was kind of an interesting trip. I didn’t really plan for it, but it worked out great. I had a great time, even though I did crutch down the aisle.”
As a redshirt freshman in 2008, Tannehill lost a battle for the QB job but moved to wide receiver, where he caught 55 passes for 844 yards and was the Aggies’ offensive MVP. He led the team in receiving the next year as well and then split time between wide receiver in quarterback in 2010.
In his first career start, he threw for a school-record 449 yards.
Last season, throwing 40-plus times per game, Tannehill completed 61.6 percent of his passes for 3,744 yards, 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
While he gets downgraded for a lack of experience at quarterback and will probably need time to develop in the NFL, Tannehill made the best of his unusual situation at A&M.
“I went into camp my (redshirt) freshman year as a quarterback and was going to be third on the depth chart,” he said. “But they moved me out to receiver. I ended up having some success that day and about two days later I was in the starting rotation at receiver. It was a quick turnaround.
“I was frustrated that I didn’t get to play quarterback. It’s what I always what I wanted to be. I always thought of myself as a quarterback. But I was blessed by the opportunity to be able to play another position.
“Not a lot of people get to contribute in another way to help their team. I learned a lot about the game. Even though it wasn’t at the quarterback position, I did get experience playing football and seeing the game out there (on the field). I learned a lot from it, and fortunately I was able to get back to where I wanted to be under center.”