The NFL is a quarterback driven league, and young guns continue to come at a premium. Don’t believe me? Just look at the Redskins trade with the Rams earlier this month. The Redskins gave up 3 first round picks and 1 second round pick to move up in this year’s draft just 4 positions (from 6 to 2). Quarterbacks are expensive, and you need a great one more than any other position in the game.
Ryan Tannehill will likely be cashing in on the quarterback run in the 2012 draft. Last year, we saw a lot of quarterbacks go early, but with the exception of possibly Cam Newton, they didn’t have the elite abilities that the top of this year’s quarterback class have.
Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III are driving the quarterback talk this offseason. Both of them are considered rare and special talents that have the potential to instantly turn the fortune of any NFL team from chump to champ. There’s no doubt that they’ll be the first two players off the board in April’s draft.
Tannehill is the third rated quarterback in the draft, and he’s considered a raw player with a lot of talent. He’ll take some time to develop, however. Even so, there’s a lot of quarterback needy teams that are looking for a franchise starter, and he’s the only truly “available” franchise quarterback in this year’s draft. Make no mistake about it, he’ll benefit from that fact.
The Dolphins are a potential landing spot for Tannehill. They make a lot of sense after their failed attempts at landing guys like Peyton Manning and Alex Smith. Eventually they settled on signing David Garrard, the former Jaguars quarterback that didn’t play a down in the NFL last season due to a back injury. He makes a decent stop-gap player if he’s back to 100%, but the Dolphins need a long-term starter, something they’ve been missing since Dan Marino retired over a decade ago.
The Dolphins problem is that they may need to move up in the draft to get Tannehill. It looks as if he will be over drafted (8th overall is even too high). There are a number of teams directly behind the Dolphins in the draft order that may look to move in front of them. The Chiefs will likely stay put at 11th overall despite some problems at the quarterback position, but the Seahawks and the Cardinals at 12th and 13th overall respectively both need franchise quarterbacks, and they may be looking to shoot up the board.
The other end of the equation is who do you trade with? The Jacksonville Jaguars have been movers in the first round over the past few years, and they’ve been very public in saying that they’d be more than willing to listen to trade offers concerning the 7th overall pick. The Dolphins may have more trade options with the 8th pick, and a team like the Browns may be willing to move down to 8th overall if the price is right. I’m not sure the Browns would be willing to trade down any farther than that, so the Dolphins hold a definitive edge in the Tannehill race if that’s who they decide they want.
Ryan Tannehill is a hot commodity, but teams still need to be sure that he’s what they need to be competitive. He has great talent, but he’s also going to take longer to develop than Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III. Teams are most likely going to be overpaying for him with a top 10 draft pick, but then again, is it really possible to pay too much to get a franchise quarterback?
