Tannehill Wants More Freedom

[DolphinsFreak]

Since being hired as the new Dolphins head coach, Adam Gase has spoken often about the need for quarterbacks to have the full support of their coaches.

That’s something that didn’t always appear to be the case for Ryan Tannehillin Miami when Joe Philbin was the head coach and Bill Lazor ran the offense. During an interview with the team’s website, wide receiver Greg Jennings said that Tannehill was “hand-held” by the previous coaching staff and that has hindered his growth as a player because he hasn’t been able to learn from mistakes he’s made in the past.

“Anytime you’re holding someone's hand, you’re refusing to let them grow…,” Jennings said. “I’m going to speak for Ryan right now, which I typically don’t do. He wants some more freedom. He knows that he’s not been able to do the things that he really wants to do.”

For the right quarterback, being given more to do along with the knowledge that your coaches are confident you can do it can make a world of difference. The Dolphins may find out if Tannehill is the right quarterback under those conditions this season.


As most know I am not a fan of Tannehill's but I have been a big fan of Greg Jennings for a long time now. The guy is a class act both on and off the field. I think the Miami Dolphins should restructure his contract so he can be a great mentor to this young receiving group. With the new head coach and offensive coordinator not "Holding Tannehill's Hand" it will also help Tannehill to have his receivers being mentored by a great man like Greg Jennings. If you have any questions about him check out his Twitter page. He is a man of faith and a great family man too. HIs family comes first and he does a lot for the community as well. The Dolphins have one of the youngest receivers in the league and in my opinion it would be a great idea to have a player like Jennings who knows how to play the receiver position so well, running great routes, etc. and his knowledge of the quarterback position is extensive as well having played with both Favre and Rodgers. In my opinion the Dolphins would be a much better team with Greg Jennings as a part of it.

[Seadog]

This doesn't surprise me at all. you could tell halfway through last season RT basically was just going through the motions. He had seem to lose that heart he played with throughout his career.

RT needs to develop or get canned, I know that, but as a coach it's their responsibility to develop a QB, not do it my way or the highway, but what is RT good at and what is he not doing well, why are you loading all that lumber on that VW, cause I want my VW to be a truck....I believe both Philbin and Lazor were fools and will never be quality coaches.

Let's see how Gase does, I hope he let's RT get involved and let's him mature as a QB, if not, oh well....

[cuchulainn]

Philbin was never about adapting to his players strengths, but always talked about ''scheme fit'' and pushed his offensive pass happy philosophies down everyone's throat. Lazor was abrasive and arrogant and forced Tannehill to stick to the script and run play A or play B each time and didn't allow Tannehill to be involved in the game plans or to change plays to other than his preordained plays at the LOS. Also, Tannehill was not allowed to call the protection plays. Those were also Lazor and the Center's responsibility. We had better protection in 2014 when Satale was calling the protection and Pouncey was at RG, though LG and RT were still terrible. This season we only had our starting OL together for a couple games. Anytime a defense needed a big play, they could go thru Dallas Thomas or Jason Fox. Not that Douglas or Turner were much better.

Tannehill showed enough for Gase to stake his reputation and future on. You don't throw away a guy who puts up 3 straight years of 4000 yards and 24+ TDs and doing so while being the most hit, pressured, and sacked QB in the NFL during that duration. If he can produce those numbers in a one dimensional offense, with little running support, and behind an OL graded among the worst each season, he should be able to do much more with even average play from his OL.

I'm glad that Jennings stuck up for Tannehill and called out Philbin and Lazor for not doing more to help develop him or allow him to grow in the position. Hope Gase can do more to get more from Tannehill, not just in a statistical standpoint, but also from intellectual and ability standpoints...

YMMV.

[Seadog]

Excellent points, couldn't agree more with the whole post.....

[cuchulainn]

Thanks, Dog...

[39Zonk]

I am a Tannehill supporter too, this has got to be his final year to make it all click with this (qb whisperer coach) and Christianson all behind him. Year 5 no more excuses even if our line is leaky. He needs to take the game over and show once and for all he's our leader. I'm all in rooting for him BUT later rounds draft a QB for Insurance. Playoffs or bust!!

[ONole1]

I was nervous of the Gse hire, still am a bit as I am not sold on his staff. He is at least saying the right things about coaching to the players strengths and not making them conform to a certain system. I don't understand why more coaches don't have this philosophy...the great ones have...

[kelbail2.2]

Hopefully Gase has bigger plans on rebuilding this team than focusing on a caretaker, at best, at QB. I have advocated building this offense starting with the O line and running game and just taking it for granted that we have a mediocre QB that often fails to throw past the first down sticks or escape the pocket and get crucial first downs on his own. It's not exciting but Tannehill just might be able to win us a championship as our Trent Dilfer. I do blame Tannehill for many of the sacks, pressures and batted balls he endured because of his inability to feel and move away from pressure but Gase has to realize whatever that blocking scheme we've had going (both run and pass) is not working. The Satele reference and some of the things Pouncey has been associated with also makes me wonder if he has the IQ and EQ to be the centerpiece of an NFL offensive line. I don't expect Gase to reach year three of this contract but I'll be interested, nonetheless, to see how things ?progress?. The more he relies on Tannehill, the shorter I expect his tenure to last.

[cuchulainn]

[AquaXI]

Cool Tanehill rap!

[DolphinsFreak]

It's hard to believe that people in the front office watched game tape on him and drafted him in the first round. That was one of the weakest highlight reel I've ever watched on any player. It made me want to watch a Vanilla Ice music video. Posers.