Is Weeden Better Than Tannehill?

It’s no secret that the Miami Dolphins will select a quarterback in the draft next month.  Right now, all signs are pointing towards Texas A&M’s Ryan Tannehill.  New Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, Mike Sherman, was his college coach so it’s only logical to assume Tannehill is their guy.  By the time Miami is on the clock with their eighth pick, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III will be off the board and the Dolphins will be going after the “third” best quarterback in the 2012 draft.  But, is Oklahoma State’s QB Brandon Weeden better than Tannehill?

Statistically, Weeden had arguably the best season than any quarterback coming out of this draft.  And yes, that includes the golden boy Andrew Luck.  Many will argue that having an NFL caliber receiver as Justin Blackmon will help pad anyone’s stats.  Regardless, Weeden did his job completing 72.3% of his passes for 4,727 yards and 37 touchdowns.  His passer rating was an amazing 159.8 for the year.  Even more impressive, Weeden led his Cowboys to a 12 and 1 record, beating good teams with “elite” college quarterbacks as Landry Jones, RGIII, Luck, AND Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill had a solid senior year as well.  To give you a quick comparison, Tannehill completed 61.6% of his passes for 3,744 yards and 29 touchdowns.  He posted a 133.2 passer rating.  However, you can see he was clearly outmatched by Weeden.  Not to mention Tannehill led his Aggies to a mediocre 7 and 6 record.

Fans and the so called scouting “experts” have argued that Weeden is a better quarterback than Tannehill.  Considering what Weeden was able to do in his senior year leading his Cowboys to a 41 to 38 victory over Luck’s Stanford Cardinals in an overtime thriller in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, it’s hard to argue against that.  Whether you like Weeden or not, you can’t deny he had a better senior year than Tannehill.

The ONLY factor keeping Weeden from becoming a top five pick is his age.  Unfortunately at 28 years old, most NFL teams consider him a grandpa.  Since it usually takes at least two to three years for a quarterback to develop, Weeden’s shelf life in the NFL is not very long.  For this reason, many teams are hesitant to select him.

In my opinion, I believe Miami will select Tannehill because of his relationship with Sherman.  In an article I wrote earlier this week, I claimed that since the very beginning, it has been Sherman pounding his fists at the kitchen table, lobbying for Tannehill to be their future quarterback.  After all, he is only 23 years old with a ton of potential, athleticism, and has a high ceiling.

But should the Dolphins consider Weeden instead?  Jeff Ireland and the front office have already made some surprising, head-scratching moves thus far.  When it comes to the draft, anything is possible with this group.  Heck, they may just surprise us all and make it an Oklahoma State reunion down in South Beach by selecting Justin Blackmon with their first round pick and Weeden with their second.  When it comes to Ireland, you can expect the unexpected.