Dolphins Plan On Bringing Ryan Tannehill Along Slowly

According to Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post, owner Stephen Ross has expressed his preference in not rushing rookie QB Ryan Tannehill into action before he is ready.

“We drafted Tannehill because we thought he’d be a great franchise quarterback. He has all the intangibles, he’s a great athlete. The important thing is not to have great expectations up front, and bring him along,” said Ross. “See how it works for him. He certainly has the talent, and you don’t want to get a guy down early. Obviously there’s a big competition for the quarterback slot. We’re not going to rush him into it, that’s for sure.”

With all the success rookie quarterbacks had last season, and teams preferring first round QB’s to play quickly, there’s still a chance that we may see Tannehill on the field sooner rather than later. Tannehill also has the benefit of playing in the same system he played in college with the team having brought in former Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman in to be the offensive coordinator, so there shouldn’t be as much of a learning curve when it comes to the Dolphins playbook.

With so many holes on the offensive side of the ball, including wide receiver and offensive line, the coaching staff and the owner may want to handle their rookie signal caller the same way Tennessee did with Jake Locker this past season and allow him to learn behind a veteran for a year or two before taking the reins.