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One of the surprising developments on the NFL’s quarterback carousel this offseason is that veteran Ryan Tannehill, who has 11 years of experience and was a Pro Bowl selection in 2019, remains unsigned here in late May as OTAs get underway. Pro Football Focus rated him the No. 3 free-agent quarterback heading into the offseason, after Kirk Cousins and the Buccaneers’ own Baker Mayfield, but yet he remains jobless.
Perhaps that is by design—he could be waiting for an injury to crop up or a team without quarterback depth to start panicking. He’ll be on a roster in 2024, no doubt.
And maybe that makes the most sense with the Buccaneers. Yes, Mayfield is locked up on a new, three-year, $100 million contract, but the team must be concerned about injuries to Mayfield going forward, given his sometimes risky playing style and the numerous dents and dings he suffered last season.
Behind Mayfield on the depth chart are Kyle Trask and John Wolford. That pair has 10 appearances and 114 career NFL passes thrown between them. When it comes to drop-off from starter to backup, the Buccaneers’ decline is pretty steep. Tannehill could fix that.
Ryan Tannehill Waiting for Right Job?
That is the thinking at ESPN, where analyst Matt Bowen writes, in an article titled, “Best NFL team fits for remaining free agents, trade candidates,” that the Buccaneers should make their move on Tannehill.
“My sense is Tannehill will wait for an opportunity to open up during camp, but if we are looking at potential team/scheme fits, then the Bucs work. Kyle Trask and John Wolford are the options on the depth chart behind starter Baker Mayfield as of now, and a healthy Tannehill would benefit from the expected heavy doses of play-action in the pass game under new coordinator Liam Coen,” Bowen wrote.
“In 10 games played with the Titans last season, Tannehill completed 64.8% of his passes for 1,616 yards, 4 touchdown throws and 7 interceptions. Put Tampa Bay down as a team to watch with Tannehill this summer.”
At 35, Tannehill ultimately lost out on the quarterback job in Tennessee to Will Levis, as the team sought to rebuild altogether. But Tannehill still knows how to win, and has gone 81-70 in his career with the Dolphins and Titans.
He struggled his last two seasons, but as PFF pointed out, that is not all on him.
“Tannehill is a good athlete who wins off play action and with solid intermediate accuracy on rollouts to both the right and left,” PFF wrote ahead of free agency. “His pressure-to-sack rate has been too high for a few years now, but in his defense, he’s been operating behind a very porous offensive line with a pass-catching corps that does not create quick separation.”
Buccaneers Like Baker Mayfield’s Veteran Presence
He would not have that problem with the Buccaneers and, if all played out the right way, he would not need to perform much more than mop-up duty behind Mayfield.
But Tannehill could also be a valuable voice in the quarterback room, given his level of experience compared with Tampa Bay’s current backups. That’s something that Coen has said he wants to see as he takes over the OC position following the departure of Dave Canales for the Panthers in the offseason.
Coen said Mayfield’s veteran presence is part of the success of the group. Why not add more?
“The atmosphere that we want to establish in the meeting room is one of the players being the drivers of it,” Coen said earlier this month, via NFL.com.
“Yes, we are installing and teaching a new offense, but (Mayfield) knows a lot of these things already. He’s heard them. He’s repped them. He’s just taking it over, and he has done a great job in the meeting room setting, talking to some of the guys. … That’s what we’re trying to establish.”
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