With the news this morning that the Miami Dolphins have fired Adam Gase, it became clear that one person, Ryan Tannehill, has been the tie to many others as well.
Ryan Tannehill was drafted eighth overall in 2012 and within two seasons, his former college head coach and then current offensive coordinator Mike Sherman was out of job. It was something that would continue for the next seven years.
Back in 2012 I wrote an article that tied Jeff Ireland, Joe Philbin, and Ryan Tannehill together. I called them a line of dominos and that once the first one fell the next would and so on. That didn’t exactly happen because as one fell, someone put another one in the line.
With Mike Sherman gone, the next domino was Jeff Ireland a day later. The Dolphins offense was stagnant. Ireland was making poor decisions in free agency and the draft. Rumor swirled that Joe Philbin didn’t want Tannehill and neither did Sherman. It was all Jeff Ireland’s idea. That wasn’t entirely true but both were without jobs.
Joe Philbin tried to make it work but with Dennis Hickey as the general manager the Dolphins failed to seek competition for Tannehill and like Sherman and Ireland before, Philbin and Hickey were tied at the hip. In 2015 Stephen Ross cut that tie and fired both Hickey and Philbin.
It wasn’t just Philbin or Hickey or Ireland or Sherman. It was also Brian Lazor who served a year and a half as the OC and Zac Taylor who replaced him. It was Clyde Christianson who lasted two seasons under Gase and this year it will be Dowell Loggains who will inevitably be looking for work unless the next head coach retains him.
Then there is Mike Tannenbaum. Tannenbaum signed Tannehill to an extension and then again to a restructure. Both of which put the Dolphins salary cap in a bit of trouble. With news breaking today that Tannenbaum has been reassigned and no longer having anything to do with the football side and Gase having been fired, Tannehill has been the single continued thread between them all.
Chris Grier was asked about Tannehill’s future today during the press conference and said that Tannehill is still part of the team and that the next head coach will need to evaluate his players. He didn’t close the door on Tannehill but hardly pushed it open.
It might be a good idea to close it.
There are many reasons why the Dolphins have failed and not all of them are on Ryan Tannehill. The supporting cast has not been very good but there is a common tie to those who no longer are employed by Miami.
EDITORS NOTE: This article is not intended to place the blame on Ryan Tannehill for the failures of coaches and general managers or executives. It only stands to point out that Tannehill is common thread between them all and the lack of finding the right quarterback has been a problem for the Dolphins. This is not intended to be a bashing article towards Tannehill.