Ryan Tannehill is the most polarizing member of the Dolphins

When the name Ryan Tannehill is mentioned on social media, you can bet that frenzy of discussion will ensue. He has become the most polarizing member of the Miami Dolphins.

Mentioning Ryan Tannehill’s name will get a thick pot of goo stirring. Very few members of the Dolphins fan base straddle the fence between love and hate. And it is a love/hate discussion when his name is brought up.

Those that like/love Tannehill are team homers. The very heart of the “Miami can do no wrong” crowd. They are the fans that will not just root for the team but do so blindly with colored glasses. To them, Ryan Tannehill is the answer and there are so many excuses as to why that is true.

Tannehill was short-leashed and handcuffed by Mike Sherman and Joe Philbin. Tannehill had no offensive line protection. Tannehill’s receivers did him no favors. The list of excuses goes on and on  and on. The haters will be the first to let you know that they are exactly that. Excuses.

On the other side of that fence are the ones that see Tannehill as the problem. They are the ones who banged their heads against the wall when a quarterback wasn’t drafted in round one of April’s draft. Banged it again on days two and three as if by some miracle the Dolphins would find the next Tom Brady on the third day. Any of those quarterbacks would be better than Tannehill.

These same fans will point to his knee issue and tell you his career is over and that he can’t recover and become great because he wasn’t very good to start with. Too much time between starts and actual play. His development is broken and unfixable and anyone that can’t see that is blind.

Where is the truth to all of this? It’s somewhere in between the two sides where very few fans exist when it comes to Tannehill. This however is where I live, at the moment. Not quite on the fence and leaning more towards the like than the hate.

What I can’t understand is where the hate comes from. Tannehill isn’t a bad quarterback but like the lovers will tell you he has been surrounded by bad offensive support. In his two seasons with Adam Gase he has played 13 games. He had his best offensive support in 2016 and would have been the quarterback leading the team to the post-season if he had not been hurt.

2017 he didn’t play at all and this is where the haters make solid points. His knee is a concern. The lovers can throw stats of every other QB in history that has returned from an ACL/MCL tear and show the success they have had. But Tannehill isn’t every other quarterback and for every one that has returned there are those that did not. Daunte Culpepper ring a bell?

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Until Tannehill gets on the field, in pads, and takes real hits, and cuts while he runs the question will rightfully linger. His knee should be a concern and anyone, including the Dolphins, who think it is 100% full-go without question is kidding themselves.

This however is where I draw the line so to speak. The line in the Southbeach sand if you will. Tannehill has improved his footwork and his mechanics in the pocket. This showed in 2016 and as the season moved on Tannehill got better under center. No more go, go-go line calling.

What we don’t know however is if the last year and four games will set him back developmentally. That is what we will find out in training camp. That’s a lot of time between now and the end of July. In other words, the haters will have a lot to talk about and the lovers will have a lot to defend and when camp and the season do arrive, you can bet that the two sides will find even more to talk about.