Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh talking to a player ahead of an NFL game.
A veteran NFL quarterback could find his way to the New York Jets.
CBS Sports Radio host Zach Gelb urged Ryan Tannehill to ask for his release from the Tennessee Titans so he could force his way to a new team. One of the teams Gelb suggested as a possibility is the green and white.
“He [Tannehill] should go to the front office and he should go to Mike Vrabel and say, ‘Guys, you know I’ve been a good soldier here and I know you guys paid me. I haven’t put up a fuss here about getting benched. Even though no one likes to get benched. You’re not going to play me. You have Malik Willis in front of me. I know Will Levis is this team’s starter for the rest of the year.’ They should grant him his release. He should ask for his release,” Gelb said in clip from his radio show, posted on X on November 17.
“He is better than the other options right now that you have in New York with the Jets with the crappy quarterback in Zach Wilson. So, Ryan Tannehill, be selfish here. Think about yourself and demand and implore Tennessee to release you because you could go walk into a playoff situation because you don’t have one in Tennessee right now.”
Ryan Tannehill needs to be selfish and force his way to the Bengals, Browns or Jets.
Ryan Tannehill Got Benched by Titans & His Tennessee Tenure Is Likely Over
Tannehill, 35, is in the last year of his $118 million contract. The former Texas A&M product will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.
On Tuesday, November 7, the Titans announced that Levis “will take over as the full-time starting quarterback for the rest of the season.”
With Tannehill buried on the depth chart and on an expiring deal and the team seemingly moving in a different direction, it could make sense to simply rip the Band-Aid off and release him.
Cap expert and former sports agent Joel Corry posted on X on November 16 that another team would need $10.5 million in available salary cap space to claim Tannehill off of waivers if he were to be released by the Titans.
In a follow-up conversation, Corry posted that he’d suspect that the Jets “would wait to see if Ryan Tannehill clears waivers & try to sign him then so there wouldn’t be a need to restructure any contracts.”
Corry asserted in his post that if the Jets needed to create cap room, they could do so by altering the contract of linebacker CJ Mosley is “easily the largest on Jets.”
I was told by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN on “Boy Green Daily” back in August that the Jets and Mosley’s camp had conversations about reworking his contract, but nothing ever happened.
Jets Have a Need & Connective Tissue With Tannehill
To put it lightly, the Jets have had an uneven quarterback situation since Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles back in Week 1.
The green and white has only scored eight touchdowns through the first nine games of the 2023 season.
If the Jets had just average quarterback play this season, there is a real belief that they’d be one of the top teams in the AFC.
Admittingly Tannehill hasn’t played well this season. He has completed only 62% of his passes, has two touchdowns to six interceptions, and has 1,128 passing yards across six games.
Although he has a long track record of success that includes a Pro Bowl campaign. During his 12-year career, Tannehill owns a 214 touchdown to 114 interception ratio, has completed 64.2% of his passes, and has thrown for over 34,393 passing yards.
The Jets’ passing game coordinator, Todd Downing, crossed over with Tannehill for four seasons with the Titans from 2019 through 2022.
If Tannehill shook free from the Titans, the Jets would be an extremely attractive destination for the veteran passer.