Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, citing sources with knowledge of the situation, reports that the Titans are “increasingly interested” in retaining Ryan Tannehill as their quarterback beyond this season.
Tannehill has been stellar since taking over as the Titans starting quarterback for Marcus Mariota and helped them to a 4-1 record.
As of now, the Titans have yet to approach Tannehill or his representatives about a new contract, according to La Canfora, and it’s unlikely that any extension talks will occur in the near future.
La Canfora writes that the Titans had already been planning to franchise tag Mariota had he performed as the level they were hoping he would, which means that if Tannehill continues to play as he has, he could be in line for the franchise tag next year.
Should Tannehill reach the free agent market, La Canfora believes there would be multiple teams interested in him, so a franchise tag would prevent him from testing the market and buy the two sides time to negotiate a new contract.
The franchise tag is projected to cost teams around $27 million fully guaranteed for the 2020 season.
Tennessee will have a lot of cap space to work with next year, so it wouldn’t be quite as prohibitive for them to use their franchise tag to keep Tannehill.
Tannehill, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Dolphins back in 2012. Miami traded Tannehill to the Titans this offseason for draft compensation.
As a part of the trade, Tannehill reworked his contract to a one-year, $1.875 million deal with the potential for more incentives. He’ll be a free agent following the 2019 season.
In 2019, Tannehill has appeared in seven games and completed 72.1 percent of his passes for 1,420 yards receiving, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also rushed for 123 yards.
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