While everybody and their momma was worried about “Deflate Gate” another team in the AFC East made some noise. The Miami Dolphins went ahead and cashed out quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The Fins/Phins whatever you want to call them are known for opening up the check book to keep or acquire talent so far it hasn’t amounted to much by 8-8 seasons. Did you feel the dig there?
Tannehill was the third quarterback in that 2012 NFL Draft class that had Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III go one/two respectively. A few weeks ago Tannehill signed a six year $96 million extension to stay planted as the quarterback of the now in Miami, but when you break down the details everything isn’t as clear as it seems on the surface. Of the six years only the first two are guaranteed and after the two years are up, he basically is on a year to year deal that the Dolphins can get from under before “said” deadline each year. So after the initial shock of why in the hell would they give him all this money went away I think this is a very smart deal. They took a page out of the Cincinnati Bengals playbook in the way they handled Andy Dalton. The going rate for a solid quarterback is between $14-$17 million a year, so if he takes the next step they have a steal, if he regresses in a few years they can get him out of town without a penalty, sounds like a win-win for the team in Miami.
Did the Dolphins overpay? Honestly no because they can get out of their mistake within a reasonable amount of time. Now it’s time for Tannehill to improve on his 23-25 record during his NFL career, “mo money, mo problems” to quote the great B.I.G.
