The best word to describe the current Ryan Tannehill era with the Tennessee Titans would be “polarizing.”
Some fans genuinely appreciate the fact that Tannehill is responsible for some of the best statistical seasons ever by a Titans quarterback, which subsequently led to the most successful tenure of Titans football since the early 2000s.
However, there’s also a strong contingency of fans who genuinely believe that not only was Tannehill just along for the ride, but he’s ultimately what held the Titans back from making a real championship run when their Super Bowl window was wide open a few years back.
Unfortunately, when you pair that opinion with inconsistent and declining play, and a rare injury-plagued season for the Titans quarterback, suddenly you’re left with a lot of people who believe it’s probably time to start preparing for a future without Tannehill.
And, just looking at the team’s actions over the last two years, it’s clear the Titans agree.
Tennessee traded up to select Malik Willis in Round 3 during last year’s draft, then followed that up by reportedly trying to trade up for a top quarterback in this year’s draft before ultimately deciding to get aggressive at the top of Round 2 to secure the services of Will Levis for the foreseeable future.
Translation: the Titans desperately want to find their next signal-caller as soon as possible.
Arguably the biggest incentive for Tennessee to move on from Tannehill is the available cap space that will come with it by 2024.
Thanks to some contract restructuring in order to make the infamous Julio Jones trade work, Tannehill has one of the worst cap hits in the entire NFL, coming in at $36.6 million.
That number undoubtedly handicapped the team from being as aggressive as they probably would have liked to be this offseason.
The combination of an undeniable down year for the aging quarterback, paired with his high salary and cap hit is what led Alex Kay of Bleacher Report to name Tannehill’s contract the eighth-worst in the NFL.
Kay’s reasons for the ranking are as follows:
Tannehill had one of the worst performances of his career in 2022, a season in which he completed 65.2 percent of his passes for just 2,536 yards and 13 touchdowns against six interceptions in 12 games. He went just .500 in those starts a year after leading the Titans to an AFC-best 12-5 record and missed five contests with an ankle issue.
After Tennessee traded up to acquire Will Levis near the top of the second round, Tannehill’s starting job could be in jeopardy even if he returns to full strength in 2023. Although the Titans still owe Tannehill $27 million in the final year of his contract, Levis holds much more promise and could be the future for this organization.
In an ideal world, either Levis or Willis will eventually establish themselves as the undeniable future of the franchise at some point in the near future. But until that happens, it’s a safe bet that No. 17 will be under center for at least the immediate future.
