Miami Dolphins best QB since Dan Marino was Ryan Tannehill

The Miami Dolphins have gone through a lot of quarterbacks since Dan Marino retired and they are about to continue that trend but the best was Ryan Tannehill.

Miami Dolphins fans won’t admit, they don’t want to. They hated Ryan Tannehill from the moment he was drafted. Why? Because he wasn’t Andrew Luck. Because he wasn’t Robert Griffin, III. They wanted someone else. They point to the fact that Russel Wilson was taken a long time after and has had more success.

What they won’t admit, is that Tannehill was a tough as nails kid in a horrible system that he was shackled in and when Joe Philbin took the same route out of Miami that Jeff Ireland and Mike Sherman, took, we saw that Adam “quarterback whisper” Gase couldn’t do much more.

It gave fans more reason to hate on Tannehill. On social media, there is a debate on the topic. Although it’s not much of a debate. Still, no one wants to give him anything.

Chad Pennington’s name gets thrown out as the best since Marino but his first year starting with Miami would have looked considerably different without Ronnie Brown and the Wild Cat formation.

Others have pointed to the gritty Jay Fiedler as the best since Marino but Fiedler was not a prototype quarterback. He was average or slightly above. He needed a strong running game and a stronger defense and the team’s early success under Dave Wannstedt was due more to the defense and the safe offensive system that they were running. Fiedler was asked only to not make mistakes. Much the same as Tannehill was early in his career.

The problem with Tannehill is that he never lived up to his draft status. Most fans will tell you they didn’t want him drafted and many will tell you they wanted Wilson. It would be a lie. Now the Dolphins are ready to throw another QB into the mix of replacements. Tua Tagovailoa won’t fail and will immediately be the best QB since Marino. No matter how he performs.

If Tagovailoa spends his Miami career injured, Tagovolites will tell you that it’s because the Dolphins didn’t give him a better offensive line. If he throws interception after interception, it will be the game plan, scheme, route running, and protection issues. He already can do no wrong without proving a single thing on the field.

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As for Tannehill, he was tough. He had a better than average arm but struggled with consistency and accuracy early on. As he grew he got better but the knee injury and the way everyone handled it from the start was a mistake and it was another stunting of his growth.

Last year in Tennessee, Tannehill had nothing to shoulder. He didn’t need to be “the” guy with the Titans, they are a running team and he only needed to be Ryan Tannehill. A developed quarterback who could dink and dunk passes with an occasional deep ball. A passer more accurate out of the pocket than in it and the Titans coaches didn’t shackle him like he was in Miami. He wasn’t babied. Now, he has an extension and looks to take them back to the post-season.

Debates are debates because people have different opinions. Dan Marino was the best in Miami history and we all agree on that but since he retired? Well, it’s a different story. What isn’t, however, is that Tannehill will never get the appreciation he deserved. He wasn’t great but in the long line of Marino successors, he was better than most, if not all of those that followed, even if you don’t want to admit it.