Ryan Tannehill finishes Miami Dolphins career 3rd in passing yards

The Ryan Tannehill era with the Miami Dolphins is over but he will remain in the top three of the Dolphins all-time quarterbacks for a long time.

When Miami Dolphins fans look back and remember Ryan Tannehill many will look at him in a negative way. A quarterback who simply couldn’t ascend to the next level. A quarterback who wasn’t meant for the NFL. An average guy who never reached his ceiling or perhaps it was never that high.

Others will remember him as a gritty quarterback who took a lot of hits and had little support. A quarterback drafted 8th overall in 2012 and shackled by the very coaching staff that drafted him. By a coach who coached him in college.

Tannehill’s development may have been stunted from the start but statistically, he finished his seven seasons with the Dolphins leaving a mark on the team’s all-time list. If NFL fans can look at a guy like Tom Brady and call his accomplishments in this day and age of quarterback and receiver protected NFL, the greatest, then we can’t summarily dismiss Tannehill’s statistics in the same era on far worse teams.

Tannehill finishes his Dolphins career third in passing yards. He sits behind Dan Marino’s 61,361 and Bob Griese’s 25,092. Tannehill’s 20,434 yards in six healthy seasons is still impressive as the nearest to him now is Jay Fiedler with 11,040. The next Dolphins quarterback will have a hill to climb but if Tannehill could do it in six years, a franchise quarterback should have no problem.

Tannehill ranks third in touchdowns as well. His 123 comes in behind Griese’s 192 and Marino’s 420. He is 3rd in interceptions with 75. If we put his seven seasons in contrast to the Marino and Griese he has done quite well given what his surrounding team was.

One stat however is very telling. Marino was sacked 270 times in his 17 NFL seasons. Griese was sacked 267 times in his. In six seasons, Tannehill was sacked 248 times. The next quarterback with the highest sack count? Jay Fiedler with 107. That is a telling stat.

The end was unceremonious. A quiet trade that came after the start of free agency. A trade that would lead a starter to a back-up role and a trade that was made due to the Dolphins paying for $5 million of the guaranteed portion of this years contract.

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Tannehill’s legacy won’t be remembered any more than Jay Fiedler’swas. Fans will still hold Chad Pennington in higher regard because that is what they do. Regardless of whether you liked, supported, hated, or were indifferent, Tannehill left it on the field with the same grit that Fiedler is recognized for today.

He wasn’t great and at times he wasn’t good but for many reasons he couldn’t get it done in Miami and it was time to see a change. Perhaps one that was a year too late but at least a change nonetheless.

Say what you will and think how you want but one thing is for certain, Tannehill carried himself with class and that can’t be ignored. He simply never was able to win over the entire locker room or the fan base.