Miami Dolphins open camp to kick-off 2017 season

It’s a broken record when you start talking about Ryan Tannehill. Each year when the top five or ten of anything Dolphins related is mentioned, Ryan Tannehill is in that group, and deservedly so.

This year the talk surrounding Tannehill is his recovery from the knee injury that ended his 2016 season. While that is important and could stall the season quickly if he re-injures it, the real question is can Tannehill take a step forward in his progress?

Tannehill is running out of time with Miami although no one wants to admit it. He is a good quarterback and there is no doubt about that but he needs to move into the top 10 NFL quarterbacks list.

2017 will be his sixth season and while there has been growth from year to year, Tannehill still hasn’t shown that he is undeniably a franchise quarterback. He is so close at times that you think he has turned the corner but then his next game is way off. The inconsistency doesn’t always show week to week but when viewed overall it’s clearer to see.

Over the past two years Tannehill has improved on his deep passing but where he really needs to step up his game is in the pocket. Tannehill has good vision and is doing much better with his check-off routes and looking off receivers but he has not taken the right steps in “feeling” the pocket around him. This is the biggest area he needs to improve in.

Seven years into his career and Tannehill still struggles with pocket awareness and Adam Gase needs to work on that in camp.