Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill had his worst season yet in Nashville in 2021, but not everyone is down on the embattled signal-caller.
Recently, Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson ranked Tannehill as the No. 45 player on his list of the top 101 players from the 2021 season.
Now, Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com is ranking Tannehill as the No. 12 signal-caller out of the list of 62 who started during the 2021 campaign. Here’s why:
“Tannehill’s Divisional Round performance wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered upon rewatching, but it did sour an otherwise rock-solid season. He held the ball too long and threw late after staring down a receiver on his last interception, a shortcoming that has plagued him throughout his career. It doesn’t surprise me the Titans are standing strong behind him as their starter. Even if there are limitations, Tannehill made his teammates better this year, especially one of the worst pass-blocking offensive lines in football.”
Tannehill had a lot to overcome during the 2021 season, so his struggles weren’t all his own fault.
He had a new offensive coordinator in Todd Downing who did not have a good first season as the play-caller, a depleted receiving corps. for several games, and an offensive line that did not provide good pass protection.
However, those things don’t exactly excuse some of the poor decisions he made during the season, and they certainly don’t excuse his horrid three-interception performance in the playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
As a result of that performance, Titans fans are ready to call it quits with the veteran, but general manager Jon Robinson and several of Tannehill’s teammates have come out in support of him in recent weeks.
Even if the Titans want to get rid of Tannehill, it’ll be difficult because of the huge cap hits and dead cap hits he carries. The only feasible avenue to part ways with him would be to trade him, but even that seems unlikely given Tannehill’s contract.
The most realistic approach the Titans can take to improve things is to bring in a better backup and/or draft a quarterback. Outside of that, don’t expect much to change in 2022.
